


A Simple Life (but with aliens)

by BeStillMySlashyHeart



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Alive!Rosa, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Good Noah, Human!Noah, M/M, Sort Of, season 1 rewrite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-09-23 15:43:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 45,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20342578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeStillMySlashyHeart/pseuds/BeStillMySlashyHeart
Summary: “I’m leaving Roswell,” he said again, firmer this time. “But I don’t want to leave you.”Michael’s brow furrowed and he shifted to look at Alex. “What do you mean?”“I mean, I like you. A lot. And I don’t want to lose whatever this is between us. It sounds crazy, I know, we hardly know each other, but-”“Yeah,” Michael breathed and his face lit up in wonder. “You feel it too?”Alex moves back to Roswell ten years after leaving but it's not a fractured maybe of a relationship he's coming home to. No. This time, he's coming home to his family.[The Season 1 rewrite no one asked for where Michael and Alex have been in a long distance relationship since high school and it changes things]





	1. Alex comes home

**Author's Note:**

> [working title for this fic was fuck this fucking shit because it's been the bane of my existence for at least four months]
> 
> huge thank you to Shae, Christi, Amanda, and Tove for beta-ing for me. It truly takes a village sometimes
> 
> And a super special shoutout to Caitlin who almost single-handedly got me through writing this thing. She was my personal cheerleader, my guinea pig for each new section, my research assistant when I could not for the life of remember what order events happened in, and just an overall champ who listened to me whine and complain about my own story at 1 in the morning
> 
> *I'm not tagging them but Patrick and Chad do both make cameo appearances so if you don't know who they are I direct you to my [Patrick Scott series](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1417255)
> 
> **In addition to Human!Noah, one of the big changes to this fic is my complete disregard for Flint and any other canon Manes bro we might get. Alex's brothers do appear at some point, however, and in place of any canon Manes bro I use the Manes bros from [The Real Manes Men](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17665826)

_ 2008 _

Alex slowed as he approached, his headlights illuminating the beaten up Chevy parked ahead of him. He pulled up next to it and cut the engine. 

He slid out from behind the wheel slowly, suddenly unsure of his plan. As he rounded the car, there was a loud clank followed by a sniffle.

“Guerin,” Alex said softly when he looked over the tailgate to see Michael flat on his back in the bed of his truck, a mostly empty bottle of whiskey rolling on the bed next to his head. Michael was reaching for it but his hand kept missing it. Alex pulled himself up and wiggled his way next to Michael, righting the bottle before it could spill further and set it as far away as he could.

“What are you doing here?” Michael asked wetly. “You’re leaving.”

Alex swallowed around the sudden lump in his throat as he wiped away a tear. He had a bunch of things he’d planned to say but nothing came to him now. Instead, he just wrapped his arms around Michael and laid his head on his chest. Tonight was his last night in Roswell before leaving for Basic Training and there was no place he’d rather be.

It was only fitting then that morning seemed to come earlier than ever. Before he would’ve liked, the sun peeked over the horizon and bathed them both in light.

Alex turned his head and buried it in Michael’s chest, trying to catch a few more precious moments. 

“Alex.” His voice was rough with sleep. Alex groaned but lifted his head and looked at him. Michael’s eyes were clear but confused. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m leaving,” Alex started. Michael pulled his hands away but Alex grabbed one of them and put it back on his waist. “I’m leaving Roswell,” he said again, firmer this time. “But I don’t want to leave you.”

Michael’s brow furrowed and he shifted to look at Alex. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I like you. A lot. And I don’t want to lose whatever this is between us. It sounds crazy, I know, we hardly know each other, but-”

“Yeah,” Michael breathed and his face lit up in wonder. “You feel it too?”

Alex blushed but nodded. “I can’t describe it but I don’t want to give it up. I don’t want to give  _ you _ up.” He pushed himself up and pulled Michael with him until he was sitting on Michael’s thighs, their foreheads pressed tightly together. “We can call or text or email…”

“All of the above?” Michael asked.

Alex nodded, a breathless smile escaping him. “Yeah, or all of the above.”

“I’d like that.”

“Yeah?” Alex heard the surprise in his own voice.

Michael chuckled. “Yeah, Alex. I don’t want to lose you, or whatever this is, either.”

Alex couldn’t help himself. He cupped Michael’s face and pressed their lips together. Oddly, even after what Michael just said, he was half afraid the other boy would recoil and he braced himself for it. 

But a warm hand pressed into the center of his back and pressed him in tighter. Alex knew it was Michael’s left hand, could feel where only three fingers put any real pressure on him, and kissed him harder. If Michael still wanted to try this with Alex after what his dad had done, he wasn’t going to argue. For once in his life, Alex was going to take what he wanted. And he wanted Michael.

_ 2018 _

He should’ve had Michael pick him up at the airport or at the very least come to the base and get him. It had been a long day and the last thing he wanted to do was drive all the way out to an empty cabin in the middle of nowhere. He’d rather go to Foster Ranch and spend the night in Michael’s trailer but they both knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep well on the tiny cot. Alex had still put up a token protest until Michael cajoled him into agreeing to go out to the cabin.

If only Michael didn’t have to work early in the morning and could be there with him. 

Alex dilly dallied around the base for a while before finally biting the bullet. By the time he left to drive out to Jim Valenti’s old cabin the sun was already starting to set. The drive took him longer than it should, he hadn’t been there since he’d enlisted, let alone since he took ownership of it, and he almost got turned around a few times. 

When he finally drove up the long drive, he found the place dark, which he’d been expecting, but also well maintained, from what he could see. Considering Jim had died several years before, Alex had expected to find the place in a state of disrepair but the cabin looked to be in good shape and even the landscaping around it was tidy.

Alex slowly got out of his car and grabbed his bags. He kept a wary eye out for loose or rotted boards as he climbed the stairs but the steps and the porch were fine; several of the planks even looked relatively new, like someone had replaced the old wood recently. When he got to the door, he had to drop his bags to flip through his key ring for the right key. In addition to the cabin key that he’d literally never used in his life, he had old keys from his last residence, the keys to Max and Isobel’s houses, and a set of keys that he’d received earlier for his new posting. It took him several tries to find the right one but eventually, he got the door open. Without really looking inside, he stuffed his keys back in his pocket and picked up the bags. Once inside, he used his cane to push the door closed and dropped his bags again.

He flipped the lock and felt around for a light switch, unwilling to trust his memory of the place in the dark with his leg. When he found it, the room flooded with light. Alex turned around, fully intending to just grab his bags and head straight for the bedroom but froze instead.

He’d been expecting a decrepit old hunting cabin, his father and Jim’s hunting trophies mounted on the walls, memorabilia on the shelves, maybe some old furniture. 

That’s not what he saw. In the place of the half abandoned cabin he’d been expecting, he found his home.

There was no other way to describe it. Ten seconds inside and it already felt like home. He turned slowly, taking in the room entirely. On each of the walls were large print photos that he recognized. He’d taken them himself, years ago. One for each of the cities he’d lived in and for his deployments. They were relatively nondescript to the casual observer but Alex saw them for what they were, a little piece of his history brought back to Roswell with him. 

In fact, on every surface he saw framed photos. Some were of him and Michael but there were mostly family photos: Michael and his siblings goofing off, the five of them at Noah and Isobel’s wedding, Alex and his brothers from when they were younger. Over the back of the couch was a blanket that Mimi DeLuca had made Alex when he was in high school. He had no idea where it had been for the last ten years but it was definitely the same one. The couch it was draped over and the loveseat opposite were new and looked to be Isobel’s taste but Alex knew if he sat down on it it would be the most comfortable thing in the world. Isobel may value aesthetic over comfort but Michael would never allow her to buy him something he couldn’t sink into. 

Alex wandered slowly into the kitchen where he found much of the same. The furniture was relatively new, more of his artwork on the walls, and when he flipped through the cabinets and refrigerator he found himself fully stocked. What he would do with some of this, he had no idea, but that was what he had Michael for. Besides, there was a box with the Crashdown logo on it that should tide him over before his own personal chef arrived. 

He went back to the living room for his bags before making his way into the bedroom. 

There was a note on the pillow on the left side of the bed, Alex’s side, and he made straight for it. The bags ended up on the floor again as he carefully unfolded the small piece of paper.

_ Welcome Home! _

_ I’m sorry I couldn’t be here tonight but I can’t wait to see you.  _

_ -M _

Alex smiled and pulled out his phone. 

_ [To: Michael] _

_ I love you _

_ Thank you _

_ It’s perfect _

He wouldn’t get it until the morning but that was okay. Alex didn’t need a response tonight. The note taken care of, he looked around the room. There were even more photos in here, though these were just of he and Michael. Alex hadn’t even realized they had so many photos of the two of them but the evidence around him said differently. He checked the dresser and closet on his way to the bathroom and found them both half full of Michael’s things just waiting for Alex to add his stuff. 

As amazing as the rest of the house was, though, the bathroom nearly brought him to tears. Alex remembered the single full bathroom in the cabin as being a tiny thing, barely big enough for the sink, toilet, and shower stall. It was the one thing he had been most anxious about coming to live here but he knew it was still better than the trailer. 

But it wasn’t that tiny room anymore. Somehow, Michael had expanded it to over twice its original size, most of that space going into the shower. The stall was now massive and when Alex poked his head in he saw it that, in addition to the larger size, it came fully equipped with both a built in bench and a removable seat as well as handrails at multiple heights. In fact, there were handrails strategically placed throughout the bathroom. Michael hadn’t been able to be there for all of Alex’s recovery and rehab. Military restrictions on unmarried partners in the hospital, Alex’s father hovering about, and Michael’s job had all served to keep them apart for most of it but that clearly didn’t matter. Michael had done his research and made Alex’s home accessible to him without him having to ask or worry about it too much. And he’d never said a word. 

Sometimes Alex really loved that man more than he could say. This was easily one of those times.

That night, despite his exhaustion and the restlessness that always came from sleeping in a new place, Alex fell asleep quickly and with a smile on his face.

\---

Eight more months. That’s all Alex needed to focus on. Eight more months and his service would be up. He could retire from the Air Force with honor and never have to deal with his father ever again.

It was some sick joke of the universe that put the two of them on the same task force as soon as Alex got back to Roswell. While it was nice that he was working in and around the town rather than at the base two hours away, he would’ve preferred not to have to spend all day with Jesse Manes.

His phone buzzed right as his commanding officer called his name. “Captain Manes!” Jesse flinched nearby and Alex enjoyed the the little thrill at outranking his father. 

“Sir?” He replied.

The officer handed him a file. “We’ve just completed the sale for Foster Ranch ten miles outside of Roswell. There are reports of ranch hands residing on the property. Make sure the area is clear and secure for construction to begin next week. Law dictates we have to give the residents 24 hours to vacate the property before we seize their belongings and forcibly remove them. We need that land secure tomorrow.” 

Alex nodded even as his heart sank. Michael loved Foster Ranch. He was going to be heartbroken to see it under the control of the military. “Understood.” He gave a sharp salute as the other man moved off. 

After relaying orders to the team under his command and his father’s additional support team, Alex pulled out his phone. 

_ [From: Max] _

_ Found something of yours _

Attached was a picture of Michael in the drunk tank, his hair drooping with his hangover. Alex rolled his eyes and put the phone away. At least now he knew where Michael had spent last night. 

Alex quickly busied himself with ensuring the trucks were loaded with the necessary equipment and materials to get started on Foster Ranch and headed out. The temporary facility the Air Force had requisitioned while they developed the new site was on the opposite side of Roswell but it didn’t take too long to get out there. 

They met with the owner first and identified the locations of all residents on the grounds and quickly made their rounds. As Alex spoke with each of the ranch hands and explained the time frame they had to leave, his men laid the groundwork for securing the area. Most of it would be done the next day, once the site was clear of all non-military personnel, but there was still plenty that could be done today and his men worked quickly and efficiently.

By the time they got to the last site, a beat up old Airstream on the far end of the ranch, Alex was ready to go. It was hot and he was cranky and he hated the bureaucracy that came with the military sometimes. He didn’t enlist just so he could post eviction notices on trailers.

The owner showed up shortly after they did to sign some final paperwork and Alex lost sight of his father for a moment. All day, he’d made sure to keep him in his sights out of some long ingrained instinct. When he realized Jesse had moved out of his immediate range, Alex passed the ranch owner to someone else to finish up with and looked up in time to see his father making his way to the Airstream.

Alex swore under his breath as Jesse leaned up against the side of the trailer to try and peer through the windows. “Chief Manes!” He called. His father tensed but turned. “I believe your men need your guidance.” He nodded his head to where his father’s support team stood talking around the back of the truck. Thankfully, if there was one thing Jesse Manes hated more than his son, it was idleness.

Jesse clenched his jaw, a swear held on the tip of his tongue as he stomped towards his men, glaring at Alex all the while. Alex waited until he was on the other side of the truck before he grabbed an eviction notice and some tape. With the pretense in hand, he stepped up to the door and took his own peek through the window. As best he could remember, Michael had all of the walls and windows covered with his calculations but it was possible that there was enough of a gap to peer inside. 

He was too busy checking the window that he didn’t hear the truck pull up or the door slam or the angry stomp of the driver as he gained on Alex. In fact, it was only the rough hand on his arm that clued him in. Had it been anyone else who grabbed him, Alex might have reacted more violently, but even caught off guard, he knew the touch of Michael’s hands.

“Alex,” Michael breathed when he saw Alex’s face.

“Guerin,” Alex greeted lightly. Michael swayed towards him as if to kiss him so Alex tilted his head slightly and looked over his back shoulder to where his father stood. Michael followed his gaze and rocked back on his heels, a scowl marring his features.

“Back from Baghdad, huh?” He winked at Alex.

Alex rolled his eyes. “Back from the drunk tank, huh?” To his credit, Michael didn’t blush but he did look away, unable to meet Alex’s gaze. Alex sighed. “The sale of the Ranch went through, this land is now property of the US Government. You have 24 hours to move the Airstream or the Air Force can confiscate it.”

Michael looked back at him with a slight glare. “You couldn’t give me a head’s up?” 

“Orders came through this morning,” Alex told him, a faux lightness in his voice. “I would’ve called but you seemed to be busy.”

“Captain!” One of his men yelled, cutting Michael off as he started to reply. Alex turned to look at the man. “We’re all finished here.”

Alex nodded and took a step towards him. The distance was enough for Michael to slip past him and inside the Airstream with a huff. Alex stared at the closed door for a beat before turning back to his men and giving the order to pack up and head back to command. He could talk to Michael later.

\---

What was the point of a ten year reunion? Most of their graduating class had stayed in Roswell, Liz and Alex being the notable exceptions, so spending money on a huge party seemed like a waste to Michael. But Isobel had planned it so Michael had shown up.

Alex hadn’t.

Michael behaved himself for the first hour. He talked with Isobel, flirted harmlessly with some people who had ignored him in high school, even made nice with DeLuca where she had her psychic scam set up. During the second hour with no Alex, he made his way to the open bar and helped himself to a bit more than he probably should. He’d cut back on the acetone at Alex’s request but they hadn’t argued, much, about his alcohol intake. It was one of the few vices he clung to and it got him through more than one lonely night without Alex.

He just hadn’t thought he’d need it once Alex was actually, finally, in the same town as him.

It was three drinks before Alex showed up. Michael would’ve liked to say he was being a good boyfriend and waiting patiently but Alex found him when he was sitting on one of the couches with a woman’s hand on his thigh. He was pretty sure she was one of the cheerleaders who had thrown old fast food at him in high school but it wasn’t like he planned on actually doing anything with her so he didn’t care too much. 

“Guerin,” Alex greeted as he stepped right up to Michael, their knees knocking into each other as Alex stared him down. The girl, whose name Michael never actually bothered to get, looked between them and quickly excused herself. 

“You know that was nothing,” he waved a hand after her.

Alex’s eyebrows narrowed in confusion as he followed Michael’s wave. “What? Oh no, I don’t care about that. I care about last night.”

Michael sighed and shoved to his feet. Alex didn’t move and so they ended up pressed tight against each other, close enough that Michael could feel every breath Alex took. 

“Why are you spending nights in the drunk tank?” Alex asked. “I thought you were done with that.”

“I cut back on the acetone, Alex, not the booze.” Michael shrugged. “Some of the guys wanted to go out for drinks after work. Who was I to refuse?”

Alex clenched his jaw. “I thought you were coming over last night.”

“When did we say that?” Michael wished he could snatch the words from the air and shove them back in his mouth. Alex backed up a step, his face shuttering.

“Right. My mistake, thinking you’d actually come home after work.”

“Home?” Michael was on a goddamn roll. He really shouldn’t have had that last drink. “Where’s home, Alex? The goddamn Air Force just took my home out from under me and you couldn’t even warn me?” He shook his head and walked away before he could say anything else.

For the next hour, they stayed on opposite sides of the party. Michael continued flirting with anyone that would flirt back, enjoying the easy attention. He kept an eye on Alex, though, as he met up with Maria and Liz and got himself dragged onto the dance floor. Anyone but Maria DeLuca and he knew Alex would’ve refused but that woman had a way of not taking no for an answer, not even from Alex.

Michael smiled around the rim of a bottle as Maria and Liz danced with Alex. Alex had never been the greatest dancer but the cane certainly didn’t help matters. At one point, he ended up sandwiched between the two women, Liz holding on to his free hand while Maria moved his hips from behind. It might have been effective if any of the three of them could stop laughing for long enough to actually dance.

At some point the woman he was talking with left. He didn’t know when, too captivated by the smile on Alex’s face to care about anyone else.

Eventually, the three of them took a break to breathe and Alex slipped out a side door. Michael gave him a minute before he followed. 

He heard Alex before he saw him. As he neared the old storage room, there was the clatter of Alex’s cane falling off its perch to the ground, complete with mild curses from Alex, followed by the unmistakable sound of Alex adjusting the prosthetic. Michael turned the corner to find him staring at the slideshow being broadcast onto the wall. He paused in the doorway until Alex was finished and steady on his feet again. 

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. Alex stilled but didn’t look away from the newest picture, one of himself in high school. “I should have texted you to tell you I was going out with the guys last night.”

Alex finally turned to him. “It would’ve been nice but I don’t need to know your every movement, Michael. Just-”

“You were expecting me,” Michael finished. “And I didn’t show up.”

“Why not?” Alex asked a little helplessly.

Michael looked away as he stepped into the room. “I wasn’t sure.”

“Sure about what?”

“If you were expecting me. I didn’t want to just show up at the cabin and surprise you if you weren’t planning on me being there.”

“Michael,” Alex said quietly. “You’re an idiot.” Michael looked at him then looked away. “It’s not the cabin, it’s not my house, it’s  _ ours _ . You set it up for  _ us _ . Just because you wanted to keep the trailer to make it easier for work doesn’t mean that the cabin isn’t our home. Of course I’m expecting you to be there. If you don’t want to come all the way out there because you have to work early, that’s fine, but I’d rather that was the exception rather than the norm.”

“Yeah?”

Alex huffed a laugh. “Yeah. Idiot.” This time Michael heard the affection in his voice and smiled. “I’m sorry about Foster Ranch,” he continued quietly, stepping closer. “I would have called you but after I got Max’s text I figured you were a bit preoccupied. I didn’t mean to ambush you with everyone.”

“It’s fine,” Michael assured him. “I knew it was coming, I just didn’t expect the first time I saw you today you’d be in uniform with your dad ten feet away. Kinda threw me.”

Alex hummed noncommittally in reply. He wasn’t going to apologize for doing his job and Michael knew it. 

“Hey,” Michael said suddenly. “You know what I just realized?” Alex arched an eyebrow. “I haven’t kissed you in like two whole days.”

“A tragedy,” Alex replied immediately. “You should fix that.”

Michael grinned and did. When they broke apart, Michael’s hands in Alex’s hair and Alex holding his waist flush to his own, they rested their foreheads together and let the music from the reunion wash over them.

“Let’s go home,” Alex whispered.

\---

“I’m gonna take a shower,” Michael announced as they kick off their shoes. “Can you get a pot of water going so I can whip up something to eat?” He brushed a kiss on Alex’s cheek and departed for the bathroom without waiting for a reply. 

Alex stared after him before turning to look into the kitchen. Boil water. He could do that. No problem.

“Michael!” If anyone asked, Alex would deny ever panicking. If there was a hint of terror in his voice when he shouted Michael’s name, it was simply a reasonable response to the situation.

Michael ran down the hallway, “wha-?” Alex just gestured at the stove. Or rather, the fire on the stove. Michael cursed and quickly put it out, moving the now ruined pot to the sink and running cold water on it. With the issue contained he turned to Alex, a clear question in his eyes.

“Ok, look,” Alex started off. “There’s something you don’t know about me.”

“Okay?”

“I can’t cook,” Alex rushed. “Honestly, I should probably never be allowed in a kitchen but it’s where the microwave is so the rest of the appliances and I generally have a truce; I promise never to use them and they agree never to kill me.”

Michael stared at him with wide eyes. “I’ve seen you cook.”

Alex pursed his lips and tilted his head in a clear  _ well _ gesture.

“Alex, you’ve made me dinner, before,” Michael continued.

“Frozen meals have come a long way,” Alex admitted, a little sheepishly. “Or if that failed, you can get just about anything delivered.”

Michael sat down in a kitchen chair. “You can’t cook?”

“Why do you think Patrick and I loved having you cook every time you visited?”

“I thought you just liked my cooking!”

“Oh I do, I promise. But honestly the fact that it’s delicious was merely a pleasant bonus to the fact that it was actually edible.”

Michael stared at him until Alex started to squirm. “Why didn’t you just tell me?”

“I didn’t want you to know how incompetent I am.”

“Darlin’, I would’ve preferred to know you aren’t perfect at everything rather than let you burn down our kitchen because I asked you to boil a pot of water and honestly  _ how _ did you nearly burn down the kitchen  _ boiling water _ ?” Alex shrugged. He didn’t understand it any better than Michael did. It was like the kitchen gods conspired against Alex the second he set foot in one. Anything that could go wrong usually did. And then some.

“Okay,” Michael laughed lightly. “I’ll cook dinner. You stay far away from the stove.”

Alex nodded sharply. “Excellent plan. I agree with it completely.” Something occurred to him and he grabbed Michael’s hand as he passed. Michael looked at him but Alex just pulled him down into a kiss. “You said our kitchen.”

Michael hummed as he pressed another kiss to Alex’s lips. “Yeah, my bad. It’s my kitchen. You get supervised visitation only.” Alex glared but Michael only laughed and Alex decided he could handle the jokes if it meant more laughter. 


	2. Fear and Friends

“Alex Manes,” Maria greeted with a bright smile on her face. She put the papers in her hands on the counter next to her and reached out with both hands to pull Alex into a tight hug. “Hey stranger.”

Alex squeezed her tightly in return. “It’s not like we haven’t seen each other, Maria.”

She shrugged a shoulder as they separated. “You’ve been back for over a month and I’ve seen you what six or seven times?” She shook her head. “So not enough.”

“We saw each other at the reunion a week ago,” he reminded her with a laugh. “But yeah, I’ve been busy getting settled and all. Haven’t had a lot of time to catch up, sorry.”

She smiled. “Don’t worry about it, I get it.” She picked her papers back up. “Just didn’t expect to see you in here, is all. Not really your scene.”

Alex shrugged, silently conceding that she had a point. He had only really ever come to the Pony to see Maria and they hadn’t made any plans for the evening. No, Alex’s plans were with someone decidedly more blond, and male. He couldn’t help the quirk of his lips as he looked over her shoulder and spotted Michael at the bar, his legs splayed invitingly with his hat on the bartop next to him. 

Maria turned and followed his gaze. She scoffed and Alex turned back to her, an eyebrow raised in question. She shook her head. “Guerin?” She asked but continued without bothering to wait for an answer. “He got hot, no doubt, in that sex-in-a-truck-never-tell-your-momma kinda way, but he’s not worth it.” She paused. “Well, if you’re looking for a good time for the night, maybe give it a shot, but he’s a love ‘em and leave ‘em type these days. Flirts with everything that moves.”

Something in Alex clenched tight. He tried to brush Maria’s words off; he knew Michael liked to flirt, that wasn’t news to him, but after finding Michael flirting with everyone at the reunion, they stuck. She said something about catching up with him later and disappeared. Alex looked over at Michael, ready to join him when Isobel breezed past him. 

“Manes!” He turned at the sound of his name and spotted a few guys he recognized from the base at a table in the corner. He lifted a hand in acknowledgement but didn’t join them. Instead, he headed towards the bar only to stop in his tracks as a beautiful woman walked by and ran a hand down Michael’s arm. Michael didn’t protest, merely winked at her as she disappeared down the hallway behind him.

Suddenly, Alex had a pressing desire to socialize with his fellow airmen.

He turned on his heel and walked over to their table, ignoring Michael’s attempt to get his attention. It was a while later, Alex halfway through his beer, that Michael came to him. Isobel had left a few minutes prior but Michael hadn’t budged from his seat.

“Hey,” he greeted softly as he came up next to Alex. The other guys slowly stopped their own conversation.

“Hey,” Alex greeted in return. “This is Michael, Michael these are some guys from the base.”

One of the guys, Connors, reached over and shook Michael’s hand and invited him to join them but Michael declined. 

“Maybe another time,” he suggested meaninglessly. “Alex, got a minute?”

There was a look in his eyes that worried Alex. He nodded and bid farewell to the table.

“What’s wrong?” He asked when they got out to the parking lot.

Michael shook his head and led Alex to his truck in the back of the lot. “Liz knows,” he revealed once he was sure they were alone.

“What?” Alex asked, his mouth dropping open.

“About  _ us _ . Me, Max, and Isobel.”

Alex rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I got that. How?”

“The shoot out at the Crashdown? She got shot and Max healed her.”

Alex blinked. “That was almost a week ago.”

Michael nodded. “Yeah. Max said she’s gonna keep her mouth shut but Isobel and I aren’t sure. We tried to talk to her, okay maybe threaten her a little, but Max got involved.”

Alex shook his head. “Ok, let’s take this one thing at a time. Liz got shot and Max healed her so now she knows?” Michael nodded. “You and Isobel decided to  _ threaten _ her.” Michael nodded, more sheepish now. “And then Max got involved?” Michael nodded again but looked away. “What did he do?” 

Michael shrugged but didn’t say anything. Alex cupped his cheek and turned him back to face him. He thumbed the cut on Michael’s bottom lip. “Did Max do this?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“He  _ hit _ you?!” Alex demanded.

Michael covered Alex’s hand with his own. “He’s all hopped up after bringing Liz back to life, he’s all out of whack. It’s fine.”

“Your brother punching you is never fine, no matter the circumstances,” Alex glared at him.

“Alex, let it go.”

“Michael-”

“Alex,” Michael’s voice was firm. “Please, just- let it go.”

Alex clenched his jaw but nodded. He’d talk to Max later. Right now- “Why didn’t you tell me any of this? It’s been a week?”

Michael shrugged. “We haven’t really seen each other and when we did, I was a little distracted,” he leered a little but Alex was suddenly angry. Sure, they’d both been busy with work and their family and friends the past few days but it wasn’t like they hadn’t seen each other at all. There was plenty of time for Michael to tell him something this important.

“You have a phone. I know this because you called me on it yesterday. Hell, a text would have been fine but nothing? Something huge happens to you and I get nothing?”

Michael’s brow furrowed. “We’re dealing with it.”

“By threatening my friend? Jesus, Michael, she  _ died _ and now she’s gotta deal with literal aliens in Roswell and you decided the way to handle it is to threaten her?”

“What would you like me to do about it?” Michael stepped back and dropped Alex’s hand, his shoulders curling defensively.

“I don’t know, talk to me about it?” Alex huffed. “Or were you too busy with all your other-” he cut himself off but it was too late.

“All my other what?”

Alex shook his head. “Nothing. Look, I’m gonna go talk to Liz, okay? She probably really needs a friend right now.”

He turned around to go to his own car but Michael’s hand on his wrist stopped him. “Wait, stop. What the hell are you talking about?”

Alex looked away. “I’m going to the Crashdown.” He tugged his wrist but Michael’s grip didn’t lessen.

“All my other  _ what _ , Alex?” Michael asked again.

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

“Bullshit,” Michael called him out. “I don’t know what it is but it’s not nothing.”

Alex closed his eyes. He really didn’t want to talk about this. He’d prefer to stew about it for a while before thinking it through like an adult who trusted Michael and letting it go. But that clearly wasn’t going to happen. “Maria mentioned that you spend a lot of time flirting with everything that moves. That you’re a real love ‘em and leave ‘em.”

Michael let go, his eyes shuttering. “So what? You think I’ve been cheating on you?”

“No!” Alex denied. “No, I trust you. You wouldn’t do that.”

Michael crossed his arms. “So what is it?”

“I don’t know,” Alex told him, rubbing at his eyes. “I trust you, I do. But hearing her say that and after the reunion the other night-”

“The reunion? You said you didn’t care about that.”

“I didn’t! I don’t! I just- I don’t know. I’ve been gone a long time and seeing that plus Maria’s comments just made me think-”

“Think  _ what _ , Alex?” Michael huffed.

“I don’t know!”

“Well what  _ do  _ you know?”

“I know you like sex and I wasn’t here a hell of a lot more than I ever was.”

Michael took a step back like he’d been hit, his arms falling to his sides. Alex reached for him but Michael moved a lot faster than him these days. “Really, Alex? I like sex, sure, but I’ve only slept with one person in the last ten years. How about you?” He glared at him and Alex flinched. They’d been on a break at the time but his drunken hook up with someone else was still one of their biggest issues even seven years later. 

“Michael, I know nothing’s ever happened-”

“Do you? Because you seem pretty unsure about that,” Michael cut him off as he took another step back.

Alex wasn’t sure how things had spiraled out of control. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said-”

“You should go talk to Liz,” Michael cut him off again, taking a step back. Alex gaped at him but Michael just spun on his heel and pulled open the door to his truck.

“Do not walk away right now,” Alex’s voice was surprisingly steady for how fast his heart was beating. They’d made a rule a long time ago not to walk away from each other, especially in the middle of a fight. Not after that visit three years into Alex’s enlistment where they got into a blowout fight and Michael got in his truck and left without resolving anything. It was months before they spoke again and it was that interlude that led to Alex sleeping with someone else. After that, they didn’t leave angry. At the very least they made a plan to continue the argument. Just something to make it clear that they weren’t walking away from this, not really. “Michael,” he pleaded when Michael didn’t turn around.

Michael dropped his head and sighed before turning around. He didn’t come back to where Alex was standing but he wasn’t in his car so Alex would take the win. 

“I’m sorry,” he repeated.

“Yeah, okay,” Michael replied. He flipped his keys around his finger. “I’m going to go home and you’re going to talk to Liz. We’ll pick this back up tomorrow. I have an early shift but I should be free for lunch.”

“I have to be at the base all day. Dinner?” His heart was still pounding way too fast.

Michael rubbed at his head. “Yeah, fine. I’ll grab a pizza on my way out after work.”

“Okay.”

Michael nodded and got in his truck and drove away without another word.

\---

Alex took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The fight with Michael was still playing in his head and he needed to push it away before he knocked on the door in front of him. 

He let out another breath and rested his head on the door, squeezing his eyes shut as Michael’s face flashed before him, the betrayal in his eyes hurting something deep inside Alex.

One more minute, he told himself.

He didn’t get it. A few seconds later, the door he was leaning against pushed open towards him and he had to take a step back to avoid getting his face smashed in. Alex grabbed at the edge of the door as the movement threw him off balance, his cane functionally useless.

“Oh my god, Alex!” Liz exclaimed as she grabbed the door and stopped it from pushing him any further. “Are you okay? I didn’t know you were out here.”

Alex laughed lightly. “I’m fine. It just startled me.” He looked down to see two large trash bags clutched in her hand. “Closing up?”

Liz followed his gaze and nodded. “Yeah we shut down a little while ago.” She paused. “Did you want something to eat? I’m sure we could fry something up real quick.”

Alex shook his head. “No. No, I’m good. I was actually coming to talk to you.”

“Let me throw these out,” Liz gestured with the bags. “Go on in and make yourself at home.”

Alex stepped carefully out of her way and made his way inside. He glanced into the diner but decided to head upstairs to the apartment instead. Arturo was stringent about alcohol in the diner and Alex figured Liz might want some for this conversation.

“Alex!” Arturo greeted him brightly when he reached the landing. He came over and gave Alex a tight hug. “How have you been? It’s been so long.”

Alex laughed. “I had lunch here yesterday.”

Arturo scoffed and wagged a hand at him. “I don’t get to talk to you when you’re having lunch. Eating is not visiting.”

“He just doesn’t like us anymore,” Liz teased as she joined them.

“It’s true,” Alex agreed. He kept his face stern for a beat before the smile broke out. Arturo laughed and patted him on the shoulder. 

“We’ll catch up,” Arturo promised. “But I don’t think you came here to talk to me.”

Alex tilted his head apologetically but Arturo just shooed him and Liz away. Liz rolled her eyes and tapped Alex’s arm. When he looked at her she gestured for him to follow her to her room.

“So,” Liz asked as she flopped onto her bed like they were still 16. “What’s up?”

Alex smiled at the ease with which they settled back into old habits. They’d only seen each other twice since high school and one of those had been a few days ago, but it felt like no time had passed between them. “I just wanted to see how you are. I know it’s the 10th anniversary of Rosa’s accident.”

Liz sobered and sat up. “Yeah. It was- it was harder than I thought it’d be. To be here for it, I mean. But I’m okay. I went to go see her, which-” she shook her head. “I almost didn’t recognize her.”

“It’s been ten years,” Alex told her softly.

“I know, I know,” Liz replied. “But most days I feel like she died, you know? I mean I know she’s alive but she’s been in a coma for so long that it feels like I really did lose my sister that day. And I left so soon after that every time I think about her I still picture her at 19. It was just- it was a shock to see her at 29. And her body is- after that long in a coma it’s-”

She couldn’t finish but Alex didn’t need her to. He’d been to see Rosa himself and he knew what she looked like. Ten years was a long time for someone to be in a coma and her body reflected that.

He stood up and joined Liz on the bed. She let him pull her into a hug briefly before she pulled away.

“So,” Liz asked with forced brightness. “How are you? We didn’t really get a chance to catch up at the reunion.”

Alex smiled. “I’m good. It’s weird being back in Roswell but I’m adjusting.”

“Yeah?” Liz asked. “Tell me your secrets. I feel so out of my depth here. Everything’s so similar but some things have changed and it’s so weird.”

“Yeah, I get that,” Alex chuckled. “Just give it some time. Hang out with old friends.” He nudged her and she rolled her eyes. “Go see Maria, she’s missed you.”

“She’s missed you too,” Liz shot back.

“And I’ve missed her. Which is why I’ve hung out with her a few times.”

Liz nodded. “Yeah, okay. I hear you. I’m a shitty friend.”

Alex saw his opening and took it. “I don’t think you’re a shitty friend. I just think you’ve got a lot on your plate right now. It’s not every day you find out there are literal aliens in Roswell, after all.”

Liz turned to him with wide eyes. “You know?” Alex nodded as Liz stood up and started pacing. “How did you find out? Do they know you know?”

“I walked in on Michael chugging nail polish remover straight from the bottle,” Alex admitted with a laugh. “They know I know.”

Liz gaped at him. “And they trust you? Michael and Isobel were in here last night-”

“I know. He told me. That’s part of why I wanted to see how you were doing.”

Liz narrowed her eyes. “How well do you know Michael? He doesn’t exactly seem the type to share.”

“We know each other pretty well. We kept in touch after I enlisted.” Alex wasn’t sure why he didn’t just tell Liz the truth but he supposed old habits die hard. Something about this town just made him want to clam up and keep his secrets close.

“Wait, so if you know and they know you know, why were they threatening me to keep my mouth shut?”

“Because they’re scared,” Alex told her simply. “I know and Isobel’s husband Noah knows but that’s it. And he and I only found out after having known them for years. You’ve been gone for a decade, Liz, they don’t really know you anymore. By knowing the truth, you now have this power over them that terrifies them.”

“I’m not going to say anything!” Liz huffed and started pacing again. Alex didn’t even notice when she’d stopped. “I’m not an idiot, I know what could happen if the wrong people find out about them. I can keep a damn secret, okay?”

“I know.”

“Well tell them that!” Liz flung an arm out in a huff.

“I did,” Alex assured her. “And I’ll keep saying it as long I need to but saying they can trust you is only part of the solution, Liz.”

“I didn’t ask to be let in on their little secret, Alex. Why should I have to jump through hoops to earn their trust?”

“You didn’t ask for it but you do know now. And it’s not just a secret, Liz, it’s their lives.”

Liz sighed and closed her eyes. “I know. And I won’t betray them. I would never put someone’s life in jeopardy like that.”

Alex hummed in response. There wasn’t really anything more to say. Liz groaned and flopped onto the bed. 

“I can’t believe aliens are real,” she announced after a moment. There was a sense of wonder in her voice. “Actually really  _ real  _ and in  _ Roswell _ of all places. Like, it’s almost too cliche.”

Alex laughed and laid down next to her, both of them staring at her ceiling. “They’re really, really real.”

“I know this is bad and wrong and it won’t happen,” Liz started.

“But?”

“But I kinda wanna run tests? Just to check their biology, I mean. Like they look so similar to us but obviously there have to be differences, right?”

Alex sat up and looked at her. “Liz.”

“I know! I know, okay. I won’t. I won’t even suggest it but I can’t lie and say the thought hasn’t crossed my mind, Alex. I’m a scientist. It’s what I do.”

“They are people, Liz. Just because they probably have a different biology doesn’t mean they’re your lab rats.”

“Dammit Alex, I know that!” Liz huffed and sat up.

Alex closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Please don’t bring this up to them.”

“I won’t. I promise.” Liz’s voice was quiet. “But you’re the only person I can talk to about this and if I keep it all a secret I’m gonna scream.”

“I get that,” Alex assured her. “So just use me as your sounding board, okay?”

“Don’t get mad at me when I do,” Liz countered.

“I’m not mad. I’m just worried about them. Professional curiosity or not you just said the one thing they are most scared of. They don’t want to be experiments.”

“And they won’t be.”

“Ok, good.” They both slowly laid back down, an uneasy quiet between them. 

“It’s late. I should get going.” Alex announced reluctantly after a while. He’d had a long day and he was tired and Liz’s bed was too comfortable. If he stayed much longer he’d fall asleep or really be too drowsy to drive.

Liz groaned and sat up. When Alex didn’t move she nudged him gently. When he still didn’t move she shoved him harder until he rolled off the edge of the bed.

“Shit, sorry!” Liz laughed. She peered over the edge of the bed, her long hair brushing against Alex’s face. “You okay?”

Alex shook his head and rolled over onto his knees. “I pity any guy who spends any time in your bed,” he teased lightly.

“Fuck you,” she laughed.

Alex grabbed the edge of the bed and the middle shelf of the bookcase and slowly hauled himself up, cursing his former self for leaving the cane on the opposite side of the room. When he got his feet under him, his cane appeared by his side, Liz holding it out from her perch on the bed.

“Sorry,” she apologized again, softer this time.

“Don’t,” he shook his head. “You would’ve done the same thing before, so don’t apologize for doing it now.”

She gave him a small smile and nodded. He patted his pockets to make sure he still had his keys and phone and then they left. Arturo called goodnight as they passed him on their way to the stairs and Alex resolved to come back another time to catch up with the older man. If Mimi DeLuca had been their group mom, then Arturo was their group dad and Alex had neglected that relationship for too long.

“Drive safe, yeah?” Liz told him as she let him out the back door. “Wait, I don’t even know where you’re living now. Is it close by?”

Alex scratched the back of his head. “Uh, I‘m out at Jim Valenti’s old cabin, actually,” he told her. “He left it to me, so I’ve been living there since I got back.”

“That’s a long drive at this time of night.”

“I’ll be fine,” Alex promised her. 

“Alex-”

“I’ll see you later. Get some rest.”

“Text me when you get home so I know you got there safe.”

“I will,” Alex promised and got in his car. Liz waited until he pulled out to close and lock the door behind him.

\---

Alex drove through the gates carefully. It was dark and he was tired and he should really go home and get some sleep but he couldn’t. Not yet.

The junkyard was deserted when he hopped out of his car, the sound of the door closing echoing loudly.

Michael wasn’t here, that was clear. The Airstream was dark and his truck wasn’t here. Alex pulled the door open and stepped inside anyway. He let out a breath when he found it as deserted as he’d thought.

Alex closed his eyes and sat down carefully on the bed. He hadn’t been here since Michael moved it to the junkyard but that didn’t matter, it was still Michael’s home. He rolled over and stuck his face into Michael’s pillow, inhaling the faint scent of Michael’s ridiculous shampoo. 

It was late. So late it was almost early and Michael wasn’t at home. Alex tried not to let the thought creep into his mind but it was too late. The idea was insidious. Even worse was the idea that it was his fault. 

He knew, he fucking  _ knew _ that Michael would never cheat on him. He even knew that Michael liked to flirt. It was harmless fun with zero intention behind it and Alex had never had a problem with it before so he wasn’t sure why it was bothering him so much now. Maybe it was hearing that he did it when Alex was hundreds or thousands of miles away. Or maybe it was that long festering fear in the back of his mind that Michael was going to get even with him one day.

It was stupid. Michael would never do that, he knew, but fears aren’t rational. And Alex had slept with someone else first. It didn’t matter that he and Michael had yelled awful things at each other and then not spoken for three months. It didn’t matter that he’d been drunk off his ass. He’d crushed Michael when they finally spoke and he’d told him. It had taken them many more months to get past it, and they  _ had, _ but part of Alex had always been afraid that Michael would do something to hurt him back.

And now Alex had accused him of doing it and he wasn’t home.

He wasn’t home.

Alex squeezed his eyes shut and willed away the tears burning his eyes and pulled out his phone.

It was very late and Michael might be sleeping and he might not be sleeping alone but Alex didn’t care. He needed to talk to him.

“Alex,” Michael’s voice was rough with sleep and it warmed Alex in ways he couldn’t describe. He always loved Michael but he especially loved Michael first thing in the morning.

“Where are you?” Alex asked quietly.

“Home. Where are you?”

“No, you’re not,” Alex denied.

Michael didn’t answer immediately. “I’m at home, Alex. Which you would know if you were here.”

“I’m sitting on your bed, Michael. You’re not here.”

Michael laughed humorlessly. “What are you doing at the Airstream?”

“Looking for you. I didn’t want to wait until tomorrow to finish our conversation.”

“Ah yes the conversation where you accused me of cheating on you with half of Roswell. And now you’re what? Mad at me for not being in my trailer?”

“No.” Alex rubbed at his eyes. This was off to a bad start. “I wasn’t accusing you of anything. I just- fuck, I don’t know.”

“You keep saying that.”

“Because I don’t fucking know, okay? This is all new to me and I’m trying to process,” Alex snapped back.

“Process what? That I flirt? You know that.”

“I know.”

“Flirting doesn’t equal sex, Alex.”

“I  _ know _ .”

“Then what the fuck is it?”

“I slept with someone else.”

Silence.

“Fuck, no, not like that. Just the once, Michael, I swear,” Alex hurried to clarify when he realized how it sounded. “But since then, I don’t know. I guess I have this stupid fear that you’re going to sleep with someone else to get back at me. Look, I know you and I trust you. And- and I know you love me and that you would never do that but it’s  _ fear _ and fear is irrational and when Maria mentioned that you flirt with everyone and with how long I’ve been gone I-”

“Alex, stop,” Michael cut him off gently and Alex’s mouth snapped shut. “It’s not a competition. Just because you slept with someone else doesn’t mean I need to. I don’t want to, Alex. I only want you. That’s it. I just want you.”

Alex let out a little sob. “I know.”

“Do you trust me?”

“Of course I do. I don’t care that you like to flirt, I really don’t. I know you wouldn’t cheat on me.”

Michael didn’t say anything.

“Why are we doing this on the phone?” He asked after a beat. “I thought we were going to get dinner tomorrow and talk about it.”

“We were,” Alex agreed. “But I didn’t want to go to sleep with you mad at me.”

“I’m not mad, Alex,” Michael assured him. “Well maybe a little, but mostly I’m just- I can’t believe you’d think I’d do that to you.”

“I don’t,” Alex protested.

“It sure sounded like it earlier.”

“I know. It came out wrong. I was just- Maria made the comment and then I was too busy ignoring it to really think it through that it just came out.” Alex sat up and grabbed his cane. “Look, it was dumb and I’m sorry I said it. I love you and I trust you and it was just a stupid comment fed by stupid fears. Now can you just tell me where you are so I can come to you? I thought coming back meant actually seeing you instead of having to use the phone.”

Michael sighed. “I’m at home, Alex,” he told him again. And suddenly Alex got it. He wasn’t sure why he was being so obtuse earlier. “I’ll see you soon.”

He closed his eyes and let out that final breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. “Okay.”

They hung up and Alex got in his car and sped towards the cabin. It was late enough that he didn’t bother worrying about speed limits or paying attention to the lights. He just focused on getting to Michael.

Halfway up the winding road he was forced to slow down when he caught sight of headlights coming towards him. He veered to the side but the other car veered with him and Alex was forced to stop.

“What the fuck?” He cursed angrily before his brain caught up with his eyes. He knew those headlights.

The other car’s door creaked open and its driver stepped out. Alex pushed his own door open and hurried out, meeting Michael in the middle.

“What are you doing h-”

Michael cupped his face and slammed their lips together before Alex could finish his sentence. Alex was helpless to do anything but hold on and give as good as he was getting. 

“Wha-?” He asked when Michael let him up for air.

“I love you,” Michael told him. “I’m not going to sleep with anyone else because I don’t  _ want _ anyone else. Since I was 17, the only person I have ever wanted was you and that’s not going to change, Alex. No matter what. And if you need me to say it again and again until it sinks into that thick fucking skull of yours then I will. But please don’t ever doubt me again.”

“I won’t,” Alex promised. “I won’t.” He pressed their foreheads together. “I love you too, by the way.”

Michael laughed. “I know.”

“And I swear there will never be anyone else. Not ever.”

“I know, Alex,” Michael told him gently. “I know.”

Alex pressed their lips together again before his body started sagging. “Why’d you come out here?”

“Because it’s almost four am and you’ve been up for almost 24 hours. I was going to join you at the Airstream so you didn’t have to drive.”

“Ah,” Alex sighed. “That probably would’ve been smarter.”

Michael shook his head. “Come on. Turn your car off and get in the truck. We’ll come get it in the morning.”


	3. Best Laid Plans

Alex sighed as Michael ran his hand over his hip. He couldn’t remember the last time they let themselves have a slow morning. Most days, they had to be up and out of the house fairly early and they both valued the snippets of sleep they managed to get too much to wake up even earlier than necessary. But today Alex had the day off and Michael didn’t have to work until after lunch so, for once, they had the whole morning to themselves. 

He cupped Michael’s jaw, his thumb tracing the shape of his lips. Michael kissed it gently before leaning down and kissing Alex, his hand trailing its way back up his leg.

“Why didn’t we go back home last night?” Michael murmured when he tried to push Alex onto his back only to realize there wasn’t any bed for him to push Alex onto.

Alex only hummed, too languorous to bother reminding Michael he was the one who didn’t want to drive all the way to the cabin after dinner with Isobel and Noah. He pushed Michael until it was his back on the bed, Alex bent over him as he brought their lips together again.

A loud honk startled them apart.

“Yoohoo!” Isobel’s voice rang brightly. “I brought bagels!”

Alex groaned as he face planted on Michael’s chest. “Think if we ignore her, she’ll go away?”

“Wakey wakey love birds!” She yelled just then. “Don’t make me come in there. None of us want that.” 

Michael laughed as Alex groaned again. “Hey, at least she brought food.”

Alex glared at him. “I wasn’t really hungry for food this morning.”

Michael captured his lips in a searing kiss that was more promise than anything. “Later.” He threw a leg over Alex and climbed out of the small bed. Alex listened to his belt buckle jangle as he slipped his jeans on while Alex groaned into the pillow in frustration. By the time Alex sat up to put his sock and prosthetic on, Michael was outside talking to Isobel, the quiet murmur of their voices carrying through the thin metal walls.

“Tell me you brought coffee, too,” Alex greeted as he stumbled out of the trailer a few minutes later. Isobel smiled and lifted up the spare cup. He took it from her gratefully and practically inhaled it, ignoring the sharp burn on his tongue. 

As he drank, he took in the tense set to Michael’s shoulders and Isobel’s antsiness. “So what brings you by this morning?” 

“Max is letting Liz run experiments on him,” Michael bit out angrily. He slammed his hands down on the workbench. “Why the hell would he let someone he barely knows, a fucking scientist no less, run experiments on him?”

“Are you sure?” Alex asked Isobel.

She nodded. “I walked in on them this morning and she had him strapped to some machine and she was taking readings.”

Michael shook his head and grabbed a half empty beer bottle from the table next to him. Alex reached out and snatched it from his grip before he could take a sip. “You don’t know who that belonged to.” He emptied it onto the ground and tossed it over his shoulder absently, trusting Michael to get it in the appropriate bin. 

“I’ll talk to Liz,” he decided. “See what the hell is going through her head.” Michael shook his head. 

“I don’t want you getting in the middle of this. This is our shit.”

Alex glared at him. “Yeah, it’s your shit. Which makes it my problem too.” Michael opened his mouth to argue but Alex narrowed his eyes and he snapped his jaw shut without uttering a word. 

“Can you find out what she wants?” Isobel asked.

“I think she’s just curious,” Alex told her. “She’s a scientist who specializes in biomedical research. I’m sure she doesn’t mean any harm by it.” 

“If she does, she’s gone,” Isobel warned. “I can make her forget Max ever told her and leave Roswell again but I don’t want to do that to Max unless it’s necessary, okay? So find out what you can and let me know.” Alex nodded. “Great. I’ve gotta get the drive in set up for the fundraiser tonight so if you need me, you know where to find me.” She flounced off before either man could say a word.

“She’s gathering research that could be used to tear us apart,” Michael said quietly. 

“It’s Liz,” Alex objected. “She has a lot of questions and she just wants answers. She’s not going to do anything with them.”

Michael scoffed. “And what if you’re wrong? What if someone offers to get Arturo citizenship if she gives us up? You don’t think there’s something out there that she values more than our secret? Just her knowing about it was bad enough but now she’s going to know more about us than we do!”

Alex stepped close and put his hands on Michael’s shoulders. “I get that you’re scared but Liz is my friend and I gotta trust that she’s not going to betray any of you.” 

“Your friend?” Michael scoffed. “You’ve had, what, three conversations in the last decade? Do you really think we can trust her?”

“Yes. Decade apart or not she’s still Liz.” Michael pulled away from him but Alex grabbed his arms in a firm grip to hold him in place. “Hey, don’t do that. Don’t pull away from me. If I think she’s a threat, if I think there’s any chance that she puts you in danger, I will drag her in front of Isobel myself, okay? You know that keeping you safe comes first, before anything, but I don’t want to just assume the worst from her.”

“Fine,” Michael huffed. “Go talk to her, see what she has to say. I should get to work.”

He pulled away and stomped over to the front office without another word. Alex sighed as he watched him go. So much for their lazy morning.

\---

“Hey,” Alex greeted as leaned over the counter at the Crashdown. “You got a minute?”

Liz looked around to gauge the crowd. “Yeah, sure.” She said something to one of the other waiters then waved Alex to follow her. She stopped just past the entrance to the back but Alex kept going until they stepped out the back entrance. 

“What’s going on?” Liz asked, worried as the door closed behind them.

“You’re doing experiments on Max?” Alex whirled on her. “What the hell, Liz?”

Liz reeled back in surprise. “How did you know that?”

“I thought you said it was just idle curiosity! You said you’d never even suggest it.” Alex glared at her.

Liz clenched her jaw and looked away before pinning him down with a look. “How much do you trust them?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what would you do if you found out that they might have hurt someone you love?”

“What the hell are you talking about Liz? Do you think they hurt someone?” Liz shifted her feet as she visibly debated whether to talk to him. “Hey, talk to me.”

“Kyle found photos from Rosa’s car accident. There is a handprint on her chest.”

Alex squared his shoulders. “What was Kyle doing looking at crime scene photos from a 10 year old accident?”

Liz stared at him. “Why is that your first question? Aren’t you curious as to why Rosa had a handprint on her?!” Liz hissed that last bit as someone walked by the mouth of the alley. 

“We’ll get to that,” Alex said calmly. “Why was Kyle looking at old crime scene photos?”

Liz huffed. “He saw the handprint Max left on my chest when we were hooking up before the reunion and he started to look into it. Somehow, he came across a copy of Rosa’s accident report and there was a photo in it that clearly shows a handprint on her chest. The photo was taken in the hospital the day after the accident, Alex.”

Alex nodded slowly. “And in your experience, what does a handprint mean?”

“It could mean anything,” Liz told him earnestly. “Just because Max left one when he healed me doesn’t mean whichever alien left it on Rosa was trying to heal her. Max can manipulate electrical currents, okay? It’s not just healing. There’s a lot more he could do and some of that could hurt someone.” Liz stepped closer to him as she spoke. “I need to know more, Alex. I need answers.”

“You’re not trying to get answers about Rosa, Liz, you’re trying to satisfy your professional curiosity.” She huffed and looked away but Alex waited until she turned back to him. “If you wanted answers about Rosa, you would  _ ask _ them. Not run experiments.”

“And if they lie? I mean, I understand why they’ve kept it a secret, obviously, but they’re all basically pathological liars at this point. How can I trust anything they say?”

Alex closed his eyes. “Max healed her.”

“What are you talking about?” Alex opened his eyes and scanned the alley to make sure no one could hear.

“Max healed Rosa that night, her physical injuries at least. But her brain damage was too severe and he couldn’t reverse it. Max is why Rosa is alive and in a coma instead of dead.”

Liz took a step back. “You don’t know that.” She shook her head. “And anyway, why would he?  _ How _ would he? How would he have known?”

Alex really should keep his mouth shut, this wasn’t his business to tell, but he knew Liz wouldn’t stop until she got her answers. “Isobel was in the car. She was injured in the accident and called Max and Michael to pick her up. When they got there, Kate and Jasmine were already dead but Rosa was still alive so Max healed her as best he could. You never thought it was weird that the only injury Rosa suffered was brain trauma? Nothing else?”

“She was driving, she was protected by the airbag,” Liz replied slowly, like she was recounting a story someone else had told her. 

“That still should have left massive injuries, a crushed chest, broken ribs,  _ something _ . The reason she didn’t is because Max saved her life. He healed all of her physical injuries, Liz, he just couldn’t heal her brain.”

Liz shook her head slowly. “How do you know that?”

“I told you, I’ve known about them for years. That night came up once or twice and I had a lot of questions too.” Sure, his questions started off with  _ where the hell did Michael go after the shed _ but that wasn’t the point here.

“And you believe them?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” Liz asked, exasperated. “Why do you just trust them? They lie to everyone all of the time! Who’s to say they didn’t come up with a cover story to protect themselves?”

“Fine,” Alex huffed. “Don’t trust them. Don’t trust me, even. But stop running experiments.”

“I need answers, Alex.”

“That’s not going to give them to you. All you’re going to do is make them more scared of you.”

Liz scoffed. “I’m not going to tell anyone.”

“Probably not. But what if someone finds out you know way more than you should? What if they threaten your dad or promise him citizenship in exchange for everything that you know? Then the answers you just had to have become a weapon in someone else’s hands.” Alex lowered his voice. “I know you want answers, Liz. And you deserve to have them. But try talking to them first. They’ve been keeping things bottled up for so long that I’m sure they’d love to be able to be honest for once.”

Liz opened her mouth just as the back door banged open. “Liz, we need you back in here.” Some guy wearing antennas told them before disappearing back inside.

She closed her eyes briefly. “Fine. You’re right. No more experiments.”

“Thank you,” Alex told her. She nodded and hurried back inside.

Alex watched her go and pulled out his phone.

_ [To: Michael] _

_ She knows about Rosa and she wants answers. I’ll explain later when I see you _

“Alex?” He looked up at his name to see Maria standing in the mouth of the alley. She laughed lightly as she looked at him curiously. “What are you doing back here?”

He gestured at the closed door. “I was talking to Liz during her break but she had to get back to work.”

Maria nodded and looked to her left before looking back at him. “You hungry? I was gonna grab something to go but if you’re free, I could sit and eat.”

Alex smiled and nodded. “I could eat.” 

\---

“What is going on with them?” Maria asked, slightly exasperated as Max trailed after Liz into the back. “Last time I talked to Liz she was furious with him for some reason. She was yelling in Spanish, she was so mad. And now she’s pulling him into the back in the middle of the lunch rush?”

Alex shrugged. He had no idea of how to translate Liz and Max’s issues to someone who didn’t know the big secret. “Who can say? I don’t think either one of them really knows what is going on with them, if it’s any consolation. Liz kept going back and forth earlier trying to decide if she’d rather kiss him or slap him,” he fibbed.

“Well it looks like she’s made up her mind.” Maria dunked her fry into Alex’s milkshake. “She could’ve picked a better time though. I think that was our food she had in her hands.”

Alex eyed the dwindling plate of fries on their table and half stood and craned his neck to see if he could locate the plates Liz had put down but he didn’t see anything. Arturo caught his eye, though, and nodded. Alex nodded back, unsure what it meant. Hopefully it meant they’d be getting their food soon.

“Alex!” He slipped back down into his seat in surprise at Isobel’s voice. Across from him Maria groaned but he ignored her, turning to face Isobel as she practically glided across the floor to his table.

“What are you doing here? Aren’t you afraid of calories by proximity or something? I thought you had to set up the fundraiser thing anyway.” 

Isobel laughed delicately and Alex’s spidey sense went haywire.

“Oh god, what do you want?” He asked trepidatiously. 

Isobel glared before visibly forcing herself to smile. “Hi, how are you? Sorry for this morning, you look good today!” She complimented.

Alex just raised his eyebrows. Whatever it is she wanted, it had to be bad. Isobel had never, not once in the ten plus years he’d spent time with her, complimented his clothing or appearance. 

She paused. Her mouth opened once, twice, before she closed it without saying anything. She tried to take a step forward but the waiter showed up with Alex and Maria’s food and she had to step out of his way.

“Spit it out,” Alex ordered as he scooped up a fresh fry. 

“The Club is hosting the-”

“No,” Alex cut her off. Isobel glared at him, her arms twitching like she wanted to place them on her hips but thought better of it. Alex hid a grin as he dunked another fry into his shake.

“Noah just informed me that he’s going out of town to visit his sister that weekend and I can’t go by myself,” Isobel protested.

“Ask Max or Michael.”

“Max will magically be required to work and won’t be able to get off no matter how much he begs.” Isobel rolled her eyes, clearly well versed in Max’s retinue of excuses for getting out of events at their parents country club. “And Michael, well-” She stopped herself but Alex filled in the rest of her sentence just fine. As much as he loved the man, Michael was not one for black tie events at the local country club. 

“Fine,” Alex caved.

Isobel’s face lit up. “It’s in three weeks, Saturday afternoon. I’ll text you the details.” She leaned down and pressed a kiss to the crown of his head before disappearing in a whirlwind, Alex just shaking his head in her wake.

“What the hell was that?” Maria asked, her eyes wide in surprise. 

Alex shrugged. “It’s easier to just give in to her sometimes. Not worth the hassle of fighting her on it for only a few hours out of a single day.” He picked up his burger and took a bite.

“That’s not what I meant,” Maria continued. “I meant, how do you know-” She cut herself off as both of them turned towards the back room, Liz’s voice carrying easily from wherever she and Max had ended up. It was mostly in Spanish but there were a few choice English phrases mixed in.

Maria and Alex exchanged amused glances, Isobel’s visit suddenly forgotten. "Ok," Maria laughed. "I clearly need to catch up with Liz."

\---

His father was here.

One day, hopefully soon, that thought wouldn’t bother Alex. Today obviously wasn’t that day. His gut tightened at the thought of spending any amount of time around him. Working together was bad enough, he didn’t want to waste even a second of his free time even in his vicinity.

“Captain Manes.” He turned to see one of the men under his command, Collins, waving him over to a group of airmen. Alex recognized a few of them and slowly started to make his way over, unable to refuse without looking like an ass. If he walked much slower than usual, well, no one was going to call out the cripple. As he meandered, he glanced around for any excuse not to socialize.

He’d shown up at the drive in for the Air Force fundraiser in part because he was a member of the Air Force and there was at least some expectation that he attend but largely because Isobel had organized it and he really didn’t want to deal with her reaction to him skipping it. Gone were the days when he had a ready made, convenient excuse to get out of these things.

“Alex!” Noah jogged over to him and Alex honestly contemplated kissing the man when he was able to give an apologetic shrug to Collins and change course. “Isobel didn’t mention you were going to be here tonight.”

“Yeah, well,” Alex didn’t really have an answer. “I’d say it’s for a good cause but-”

Noah laughed. “Yeah. I think half the people here are only here to avoid angering Iz.”

“Only half? She’s losing her touch.”

“Don’t let her hear you say that or you’ll never get out of another event again.”

“Are you kidding? I think I used up all my get out of jail free cards while I was away. She even roped me in to be your replacement at the Club while you’re visiting your sister.” Noah winced and Alex narrowed his eyes. “You  _ are _ going to see your sister that weekend, right?”

Noah looked away before grinning bashfully. “I’m meeting up with a couple of frat buddies from college that weekend.”

Alex threw his head back with a groan. “You couldn’t just tell Isobel that?”

“Missing an event to see my sister is acceptable to her, you know how she is about siblings. Blowing her off to go to Vegas? Not so much.” He shrugged, sheepish. “Normally I wouldn’t lie but I had forgotten about it completely when I booked the trip. When she reminded me this morning I just thought of the first thing that came to mind.”

“I hate you so much,” Alex uttered softly, shaking his head.

Noah clapped him on the back. “I owe you one.”

“Yes. Yes you do.”

While they talked, they’d made their way to the back of the lot where Alex could just make out Michael’s curls blowing in the wind from the back of a truck. Alex hadn’t even known he was here.

“It’s not easy to delve into the human psyche, Michael,” they heard Isobel hiss as they walked up. Alex and Noah exchanged a rueful glance. The three of them were getting lazy. They usually knew better than to discuss alien matters out in public.

“Michael Guerin at a town event?” Noah asked loudly. “Do my eyes deceive me?”

Alex laughed at the offended look Michael threw Noah. “I show up occasionally,” he protested.

Isobel scoffed. “For five seconds, maybe.” She turned and kiss Noah hello. “I thought you were coming by after 5?”

Noah held up his wrist. “It’s almost 5:30.” Isobel looked at his watch and cursed. 

“Projector’s working?” She asked Michael, barely waiting for his nod before she took off. The three men stared at the literal dust kicked up in her wake. 

“I should probably go help her,” Noah remarked idly. “She mentioned earlier that she was short staffed.” He gave them a mock salute and turned on his heel.

“So,” Alex drawled when Noah was gone. “What brings a guy like you to an event like this?”

Michael shrugged as he stepped down from the truck. “Maybe I wanted to watch a movie.”

“Ah yes, the movie where evil aliens take over the planet. Your favorite.” Alex took a step closer to Michael.

“Maybe I heard there would be a lot of really hot airmen here tonight. Figured it was as good a place as any to meet some new people.” Michael smiled to take the edge off the tease. 

Alex hummed mockingly. “Yes. I forgot. You just love meeting new people. Especially those in the military.”

“I will have you know that some of my favorite people in the world happen to be in the military.” He’d taken a step back as Alex stepped closer and was now sandwiched tightly between Alex at his front and the truck truck holding the projector at his back. This close, they didn’t need to speak above a whisper.

Alex glanced down at Michael’s lips just as he ran his tongue over them and the next thing he knew he’d closed the gap between them completely. Alex’s hands buried themselves in Michael’s curls as Michael licked his way into his mouth, not wasting any time. 

“Hi,” Michael gasped when Alex pulled back.

“I’ve missed you today,” Alex whispered. “We were supposed to have a lazy day.”

“I know.” Michael rested their foreheads together. He didn’t apologize. “You talked to Liz?”

Alex nodded. “She found out that Rosa had a handprint on her when she was admitted to the hospital and she wanted to know if Max could do anything other than heal.”

“The handprint is from Max healing her,” Michael reminded him.

“I know,” Alex assured him. “And I told her that. I told her that Isobel was in the car that night and that’s how Max got out there in time to heal Rosa but he couldn’t reverse the brain damage. I know I shouldn’t have, that’s yours and Max and Isobel’s business, but I felt like she needed to know. I told her to come talk to you three with any other questions she may have.”

“Right, because what I want is the Ortecho Inquisition.”

“Better than letting her experiment on Max,” Alex chided gently.

Michael sighed and let his head fall to Alex’s shoulder. “But she’s done with that, right? We don’t have to worry about it anymore?”

“That’s up to her,” Alex told him. “I can’t control what she does but she did say she would back off.” He pressed a kiss to Michael’s ear. “Come on. The movie’s going to start and we might as well get a good seat.”

Michael lifted his head and gave him a look. “We are not staying for the movie.”

“Come on, we can grab something to eat from the food truck and there’s a six pack in my car. We could do a proper date. Dinner and a movie with drinks after.” He kissed the corner of Michael’s jaw. 

“You want to stay?”

Alex shrugged. “If you really don’t want to watch the movie, we can always go home and watch something there but yeah, I’d like to stay.”

Michael let out a breath. “My truck’s parked right in front of the screen.” He sounded so long suffering that Alex had to smile. Alex let Michael lead him to the truck before they split up, Alex to his own car for a blanket and the beer, Michael to the food truck for dinner. They met back at Michael’s just in time for the movie to start.

They maintained a respectable distance throughout the, admittedly awful, movie. It wasn’t so much that Alex didn’t want people to know that they were on a date as it was the fact that if he got any closer to Michael things were likely to turn decidedly not-family friendly. As it was, he contained himself to pressing their knees together and allowing the occasional touch. Even his father’s disapproving glare couldn’t sully Alex’s good mood tonight.

So of course it was Isobel that threw the wrench.

Alex didn’t know what happened. One minute she was standing next to the stage after introducing his father for some bullshit speech and the next she had a hand over her mouth and was ducking out of sight. Michael was up and gone in an instant. Alex stared after him for a beat before rolling his eyes. He followed at a more sedate pace after grabbing Michael’s emergency bottle of acetone out of the cab.

“What the hell, Iz?” He heard Max ask as he rounded the corner. Alex hadn’t even seen Max tonight.

“Can you just get me some acetone?” Isobel panted as she glared at her brothers hovering uselessly next to her. Alex thrust the bottle over Michael’s shoulder without a word. Isobel took it with a grateful smile. “This is why you’re my favorite.”

Max and Michael both gasped in faux horror but Isobel ignored them as she drank deeply from the bottle. 

“What happened?” Max asked softly when she paused to wipe her mouth. She just shook her head instead of answering. 

“Max!” Liz yelled angrily from somewhere, cutting him off as he opened his mouth. The four of them looked at each other in question before Alex stepped out from behind the building they’d ducked behind. He spotted Liz instantly, her fury rolling her off like a physical thing keeping people away.

“Liz?” Liz saw him and hurried over.

“Where’s Ma- what the hell, Evans!” Liz changed course immediately upon seeing Max. She held up a folded piece of paper. “Why the hell were you writing Rosa love poems?”

“What?” Isobel asked while Michael just started laughing. 

“What? I never wrote Rosa any poems!” Max sputtered. “Shut up Michael,” he hissed when Michael kept laughing.

Liz looked at their tiny peanut gallery and huffed. Without a word she grabbed Max’s arm and took off past him, dragging him behind her until they were far enough away that Alex couldn’t hear them.

“Ok. What did you do?” Michael asked Isobel.

She sighed. “I tried to get into Liz’s head and make her leave.”

“She’s still here,” Alex noted, earning himself a glare.

“No longer my favorite,” Isobel told him. “She resisted me. Said she couldn’t leave Max.”

“Wait, she argued with you?” Michael looked concerned.

Isobel shook her head. “Not exactly? It was like- like she just said no.” She took a swig of the acetone. “That’s never happened before.”

“Why were you trying to get her to leave?” Alex asked.

Isobel gave him a look. “So she stops experimenting on Max.”

Alex closed his eyes. “I talked to her, didn’t Michael tell you? She’ll stop.”

“Look, Alex, I love you and I know you want to protect us. But you aren’t us. You can’t understand what it feels like to know that a scientist that we barely know is currently running experiments on one of us to try and figure out what makes us tick. I appreciate that she was your friend in high school but I’m not going to trust my life and my brothers lives in her hands just because Max had a crush and you hung out with her a full decade ago.”

And well, Alex couldn’t really argue with that. Even if he could, Isobel didn’t bother waiting around to hear it. She staggered to her feet and pushed past him without another word, leaving Alex and Michael staring after her.

“Michael,” Alex asked softly, “do you think it’s better if Liz leaves?”

Michael sighed as he stood up. “It bothers me to think that she’s getting enough information to make her dangerous if she decides one day it’s in her better interest to work against us. But you trust her and I trust you, so…”

“I don’t want you to trust me over yourself,” Alex told him.

“I’m not,” Michael told him. “If I really thought Liz was a threat here and now, I’d be helping Isobel. But as it stands, I think you were right earlier. She just wants answers and after what happened with Rosa, I can understand that. As long as she doesn’t dig too far, I’m okay with letting her get those answers.”

Alex searched his face for any sign that he was lying but Michael seemed sure so Alex just nodded.

“Ok. If you change your mind-”

“I’ll tell you.”

“Good.”

“Can we go home yet?” Michael huffed. “Has date night been sufficiently accomplished?”

Alex laughed and nodded. “Yeah. Let’s go home.”


	4. Housewives and Hardy Boys

“Oh _ my _,” a feminine voice faux whispered, waking Alex up. “They certainly didn’t make men like that in my day.”

Alex sat up with a frown. _ What the fuck? _

“My daughter said she’s coming by later,” another woman said. “We should tag along. It’s supposed to be a hot one today and without the fans working, he’s likely to lose the shirt.”

Alex rolled his eyes so hard he fell back onto the bed. Michael’s admirers were out in force early today. He grabbed at the little ledge over the bed until he found his phone.

Still no service which meant the power grid was still down. Great.

Several women’s voices started tittering all together and Alex sat up enough to look out the window. Ah, Michael had lost the shirt already.

“They jack up the prices when we come but I don’t even care,” this one was a different voice from the first two. Younger, too, it sounded like. “It’s worth it for the show.”

“Alright, Mrs. Winters,” Michael’s voice carried through the open window and Alex started in shock. Mrs. Winters was easily old enough to be his grandmother. “Looks like everything is in top shape. Your brakes were a little loose so I went ahead and tightened them. Don’t mention it to Mr. Sanders on your way out, okay? We’ll let that be our little secret.” Fuck, but Alex could practically _ hear _ the wink Michael gave her.

“Thank you, young man. You’re too kind,” someone, likely Mrs. Winters, replied. There was some shifting as a few people stood up and wandered off.

“Have you had a chance to look at my car, yet?” A woman called.

“I’ll get right on it, Ms. Williams!” Michael replied. Alex clapped a hand over his mouth to smother his laughter: Ms. Williams was the music teacher at Roswell High. 

There was a honk as several more cars drove up, gravel spraying as they stopped. “Good morning, ladies!” A new woman greeted, this one sounding Alex’s age. “How are we doing today?”

“The shirt’s already off,” someone replied immediately. There were a few whistles in reply.

“Well at least something good can come out of this power outage,” someone said in a huff.

“What brings y’all out so early?” An older woman. “I thought you ladies came during your lunch breaks.”

“No work on account of the power outage,” someone replied. “The kids are at the pool with their fathers and we found ourselves with a free morning. What better time to get a tune up?”

A round of laughter had Alex shaking his head. Resigning himself to getting up for the day, he pulled himself to his feet, well foot, and hopped over to the shower for a quick rinse off. The good thing about the Airstream was that it didn’t run on city power. Michael kept a generator fully fueled out back that kept everything running even with the power grid down.

The women’s voices filtered in through the thin siding and the cracked windows as he dried off and got dressed. He let the cadence of their chatter wash over him as he made the bed and straightened up what he could. Michael preferred it messy, organized chaos he called it, but the Air Force had ingrained some need for order in Alex. After a few grumbled disagreements, they had come to a compromise: in both the cabin and Airstream, Alex had full control over the bedroom and bathroom and could move whatever he needed to get around while he stayed far away from the kitchen and any of Michael’s research. It worked for them.

With a final pat to his pockets to make sure he had his wallet, keys, and phone, Alex pushed open the door to the Airstream and carefully stepped down. The women’s chatter paused when the door opened but quickly picked back up when some of them recognized him. 

“Morning, ladies,” he greeted with a nod.

“Morning, Alex!” Mrs. Carter replied. Alex had helped Michael do some repairs around her house the last time he was in town so she was less surprised to see him than the others. Nevertheless, most of them greeted him pleasantly and quickly went back to their daytime viewing pleasure.

Alex shook his head with a smile and made his way over to where Michael was bent over a car, his hips shaking far more than was necessary.

“You have an audience,” Alex called as he neared. Michael looked over his shoulder at him without standing up.

“So I do,” he smiled. “Like what you see?” He shifted his feet in a perfectly innocuous way that had his hips shifting just enough for his jeans to slip down an inch, his customary belt currently slung over the closet door.

“You’re incorrigible,” Alex laughed. Michael finally stood up and turned around.

“You love it.”

Alex hummed and leaned forward to kiss him. There was a sound behind him though whether it was a cheer or boo, he couldn’t say. He didn’t really care.

“Morning.”

“Morning,” Michael smiled. “You got a late start.”

“We should’ve gone out to the cabin last night,” Alex told him. “We could’ve both slept in.”

Michael just raised an eyebrow. Ok, fine, so what if it was Alex’s idea to stay at the trailer? Sometimes the drive home was just too damn long, especially when he wasn’t feeling particularly patient. 

“You heading home?” Michael asked instead.

“Not yet,” Alex told him. “I want to go talk to Kyle Valenti. Figure out how the hell he got his hands on those photos he gave to Liz.”

“Don’t do anything stupid,” Michael cautioned. “The police buried those photos, who knows how he got his hands on them.”

“Which is why I’m going to ask. Politely,” he added at Michael’s glare. “What about you? You working here all day?”

Michael shook his head. “Izzy’s coming by in a bit. We’re going to head up to Max’s, see just what he did to cause this blackout. Iz also mentioned something about strengthening her powers to try again on Liz but I’m not sure what she meant by that. I’m not sure she knows what she meant by that, honestly, but I get the feeling it’s going to take up most of the day.”

Alex hummed. “Ok. Keep me posted if anything happens?” Michael nodded and leaned in for a kiss, Alex meeting him halfway. The kiss dragged on for a minute until wolf whistles from Michael’s cheering squad caused Alex to pull away with a laugh. “See you at home tonight?”

“I’ll cook.”

Alex barked a laugh. “Yes you will.”

\---

Alex resisted the urge to swing his legs. He was a grown man and the motion pulled at his stump. And yet- something about sitting on a table with his feet not quite touching the ground gave him the inexplicable urge to swing his legs about like a five year old.

He was just about to give into the temptation when the door opened and actual doctor Kyle Valenti stepped through, his eyes caught on the chart in his hands. “Ok, Mr.-” He looked up and froze. “Alex?”

“Morning, Doc,” Alex grinned. “Got time for a chat?”

Kyle glanced from him to the chart in his hands to the now closed door behind him. “I have a patient?”

“Yeah, me. Kimberly’s the nurse at the desk.”

“How do you know the nurse at the desk?” Kyle asked bewildered.

Alex laughed. “She went to high school with us. Played in the band?” He rolled his eyes at the surprise on Kyle’s face. “I told her I wanted to screw with you and she let me in no problem.”

“That’s unethical,” Kyle sputtered. 

“Did you really think you had a patient named Joe Schmo?” Alex stared at him. Kyle looked back down at the chart as a flush creeped up his neck.

“I, uh, hadn’t seen his name yet.”

“Right. Anyway, not why I’m here.”

“Why _ are _you here?”

“We need to talk.”

Kyle crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. “Oh? About what?”

“Rosa Ortecho.” Kyle straightened up, his shoulders tensing.

“Why do you want to talk about Rosa?”

“I don’t. Not really. I’m more interested in talking about the crime scene photos that you showed to Liz. Crime scene photos that I’m fairly sure don’t actually exist.”

Kyle stared at him but, to his credit, he recovered quickly. “How would you know anything about that?”

Alex shrugged. “I talked to Liz.”

Kyle nodded slowly. “Right. You talked to Liz and that’s how you know the photos shouldn’t exist?” He raised an eyebrow.

“How’d you find them?” Alex asked.

“Why are you so interested in them?” Kyle shot back.

Alex paused, hoping maybe to wait Kyle out, but Kyle stayed quiet. He just quirked his head questioningly at Alex’s continued silence until Alex had to smile. “Ok, fine. We’ll play it your way. I know they shouldn’t exist because a certain Sheriff’s Deputy didn’t find anything when he went looking for them.”

Kyle’s eyes widened. “You know.”

“Yes.”

“About-”

“Yes,” Alex said again. “About that. Which is why I was talking to Liz about the photos you showed her and what they might mean. Now I’m asking where exactly you got them.”

Kyle hesitated.

“Kyle, if you want answers half as much as Liz does, just be honest with me. Keeping more secrets from each other is not the answer here.”

Kyle sighed. “Your dad.”

“What?” 

“I got them from your dad.” Alex blinked slowly, his brain trying to process the revelation.

“How- why were you talking to my dad about Rosa’s accident?”

Kyle let out a breath and half collapsed onto the rolling chair tucked under the desk. “If you see a handprint, go to Manes. It was something my dad would say, over and over, in his last few months. When Liz got back into town, I saw a handprint on her chest so-”

“So you went to my father.”

“I assumed he was the Manes my dad meant, yeah. Anyway, he told me what the handprint meant. Of course, he made it sound like it was a weapon of some kind so I didn’t understand how Liz had one when she was obviously fine. I asked him for evidence and he gave me Rosa’s file. An al- someone like our good Deputy,” Kyle corrected himself, “might’ve caused Rosa’s accident and killed those two girls ten years ago. I thought that was something Liz ought to know so I showed her the file.”

Alex stood up, unable to keep sitting when his mind was running a million miles an hour. “What did he want?”

“Sorry?”

“My father. He never does anything out of the kindness of his heart. He gave you Rosa’s file so what did he want in return?”

“My help,” Kyle admitted after a while. “He’s running this mission he called Project Shepherd and he wanted a ‘civilian consultant’.” Kyle actually used the air quote gesture when he mimicked Jesse. “He wants me to keep an eye out for any more handprints.”

“Did you sign anything?” 

“What?” Kyle looked confused.

“Did you sign anything for him? An NDA or something like that?” Kyle still looked confused. “You just told me about the existence of what is most likely a highly classified, ongoing military operation. If you signed a non-disclosure agreement, then this conversation could send you to jail for a very long time. Now, did you sign anything?”

Kyle shook his head. “No. He just told me that life would get very difficult for me if I shared my newfound knowledge with anyone.”

That was odd. Why wouldn’t he have had Kyle sign the litany of required documents? As a civilian, Kyle shouldn’t have access to probably any of the information his father had already told him. Why would Jesse Manes risk his career over the police report of a ten year old accident?

“Alex?” Kyled asked. He waited for Alex’s nod before continuing. “You’re out at my dad’s old hunting cabin, right?”

“Yeah?”

“I found a key in a box of his things my mom gave me. I’ve tried it everywhere I could think of in Roswell but I haven’t tried the cabin.” 

Alex sighed. “Yeah, fine. Come on out.”

“I get off at noon,” Kyle told him. 

“Good for you,” Alex replied. “Come by after. I’ll be home.” He left without bothering to say goodbye.

\---

“I like what you’ve done with the place,” Kyle told him as he looked around. “It’s definitely homier than it was when my dad had it.”

Alex looked around, too, taking in everything that Kyle was seeing. Michael had really done a great job setting it up. When they decided he would live here after coming back to Roswell, he had worried that the place would remind him too much of weekends with his dad but Michael had erased the man’s presence. Instead of hunting gear and memorabilia tacked on the wall, there were the pictures Alex had taken at his various postings and framed photos of their friends and family. It looked like a home, their home.

Lost in his own thoughts, Alex didn’t notice Kyle walking around the room until he held up a picture frame. “When was this taken?” He asked lightly.

Alex glanced over at it and smiled. In the photo, Michael had Alex dipped backwards in an exaggerated mockery of the famed V-J Day kiss. He had Alex bent so low, Alex’s head almost brushed the ground and to this day Alex was convinced Michael had had to use his powers to keep them from toppling over.

_ He craned his neck wishing not for the first time in his life that he was just a bit taller. The crowd was massive, hundreds gathered to welcome home multiple squads. It had been a long eight months and as happy as Alex was to be back on familiar ground, literally, he wouldn’t truly be home until he saw Michael. _

_ If Michael was even here. _

_ The last time they’d spoken, Michael had warned him that he might not be able to welcome him home. He was still coming to the base but he might not get there until the next day. Alex had assured him it was ok, that as long as he got to see him he didn’t care which day it was, but he really wanted to see Michael right now. His first deployment had been under DADT and Michael had stayed at his apartment instead of greeting him immediately but this time was different. They didn’t have to hide, not from the military, not anymore. _

_ “Relax, Manes,” Chad chided lightly. “Either he’s there or he’s not. Breaking your neck looking for him isn’t gonna make a difference.” _

_ Alex glared at him but settled down and resigned himself for the long wait. It really was an unfairly long process to return from a deployment. There was a ceremony and protocol and other bullshit that literally nobody cared about and yet they had to go through it anyway. _

_ Finally, the airmen were released to greet their families and then it was pandemonium. Hundreds of soldiers let loose into the crowd and everyone looking for their loved ones. Alex lost sight of Chad pretty quickly, both men too busy looking for their families to bother keeping track of each other. _

_ Alex searched the crowd for a while without luck. Then, right as he was starting to resign himself to taking a cab back to his apartment, he felt it. A nudge in the back of his head. It was light but it was unmistakably Isobel’s touch. He didn’t bother trying to contain his grin as he let her nudge him in their direction. After a few minutes of dodging families, Alex caught sight of Michael’s ridiculous hat and broke into a brisk walk, just barely containing himself from running flat out. _

_ The crowd parted and there he was. Michael was _ here _ . _

_ Alex dropped his bag a few feet away and practically leapt into Michael’s arms. For a moment, it was impossible to tell who was holding tighter until Michael loosened his hold enough for Alex to pull back. _

_ “Hi,” Michael whispered, a hand coming up to stroke Alex’s jaw. “Don’t kill me.” _

_ Alex didn’t have time to be confused before Michael was dipping him backwards. Both of their hats hit the ground as they kept going back. When Alex was positive he could feel his hair touching the ground, Michael leaned down and kissed him, cutting off his startled laugh. “Welcome home, darlin’.” _

_ Alex smiled as Michael straightened them back up. “I missed you.” _

_ “I missed you too.” Michael kissed him again, this one lasting far longer than the first one. _

_ “Okay, okay! Break it up, you’ll have plenty of time for that later,” Isobel’s voice broke them apart but when Alex turned to her she had a huge smile on her face. _

_ “Hi,” he greeted weakly. Michael hadn’t said that anyone was coming with him, so to see Isobel, Max, and Noah standing next to Patrick was a surprise. The kind of surprise that had him feeling light and ---. He hadn’t really expected to see a full welcoming committee. _

_ Isobel rolled her eyes and launched herself into Alex’s arms. “Welcome home!” She exclaimed in his ear. “We’ve missed you.” _

_ Alex squeezed her gently. “I’ve missed you too.” _

_ When she pulled back he exchanged a friendly nod with Max before Noah pulled him into his own hug and then it was Patrick’s turn to practically tackle him. When Alex had the chance to breathe again he turned back to Michael. _

_ “What was with the dip?” _

_ Everyone laughed as Michael flushed. “Well, about that.” _

_ A phone was suddenly shoved in his face and Alex startled back a step before he focused on it. On the screen was a photo of the dip. It looked even more ridiculous than it had felt and that was saying something. _

_ He looked up and around at the group. “Whose idea was that?” _

_ In unison, all four men point at Isobel. She glared at all of them before shrugging, entirely unrepentant. “I thought it would make a good photo.” _

_ Alex smiled. It did make a good photo. “I want a copy of that.” _

“Alex?” Kyle asked, something in his voice telling Alex it wasn’t the first time he’d called his name. He shook his head to clear the memory and focused on Kyle. He still held the picture in his hand.

“Uh, that was just after my second deployment,” he answered Kyle’s earlier question. “Now, what do you think your dad hid out here?” He pulled Kyle back to the reason for his visit before he could ask any more questions.

To Alex’s relief, Kyle didn’t dwell on the photo. Instead, he just put it down gently and focused on Alex, all business. “I’m not sure. Some of the stuff I found in the box had strange markings on it, almost like another language but nothing that I recognized. I was hoping maybe there was a storage cabinet or something here, maybe a locked closet that he could’ve hidden things in? I tried the shed out back already before I came in.”

Alex thought for a second before shaking his head. “Nothing here that sounds like that.”

“Are you sure? Could I take a look around?” 

“It’s not a very big cabin,” Alex glared. He didn’t like the idea of Kyle Valenti trampling through his home, not even if it had technically been his first.

“Right. Of course,” Kyle acquiesced. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

“Look,” Kyle started. “I never really got the chance to apologize.” Alex stiffened. He leaned forward to rest his hands on his knees. 

“Apologize for what?”

“I was a dick in high school,” Kyle stated bluntly. “Mostly to you. I- I don’t even know why, honestly, I mean- we used to be best friends and then-”

“And then you realized I was gay and turned into a 80s jock stereotype to put as much distance between us as possible so no one would think you were gay too.” Never let it be said that Alex beat around a bush. 

Kyle swallowed but, amazingly, didn’t argue. “You’re right. I don’t know if I realized it at first or if it was ever really a conscious decision on my part but it doesn’t matter. I was an asshole and a bully and I’m sorry, Alex.”

“Thanks,” Alex told him dryly but sincerely. 

There was a long pause that sat heavy on them. Alex really did appreciate the apology but it didn’t change the fact that the man sitting across from him had been the cause of a lot of hell all throughout high school. For his part, Kyle kept looking around the cabin like he couldn’t reconcile its current state with his father’s hunting cabin.

“It’s so different,” Kyle whispered as he stood up. He seemed fixated on something but what, Alex couldn’t say. As distracted as he was, Kyle bumped straight into the large coffee table Alex and Michael hadn’t bothered to move. His knee collided with a sound _ whack _ that had Alex wincing in sympathy before his body weight and momentum pushed the whole table forward a few inches. 

Alex stood up and moved before the table could hit his own legs.

“What the fuck?” Kyle whispered as he rubbed at his knee.

“You ran into a table,” Alex reminded him. “It hurts.”

Kyle glared at him as if to say _ really _. “Not that. This,” he pushed the table another few inches until Alex could see an opening in the floor beneath it. The top of a ladder was just barely visible as it descended down into what Alex presumed was a bunker.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” he let out softly. Kyle looked up at him with a grin.

“Come on, let’s check it out.” Alex was already shaking his head. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

Alex sputtered. “I don’t know? Literal fucking skeletons? You don’t know what’s down there.”

Kyle looked at the hole and shrugged. He dug the key out of his pocket and held it up. “Bet I find something that goes with this.”

Alex looked from Kyle to the ladder and back. There was a look on Kyle’s face that told Alex he was going down there whether Alex went with him or not.

“Fuck, fine.” He pulled out his phone and took a picture of the hole, the dislodged coffee table evident in the background.

_ [To: Michael] _

_ How’d you miss the giant fucking hole in the floor with all your redecorating? _

_ Checking out yet another Roswell bunker with Kyle. If I don’t make it back up, come and get my dumb ass _

“Ok let’s go.”

\---

Michael collapsed onto the couch as soon as he walked in the door. Face down, he struggled to kick his boots off but turning over felt like too much work.

“Door?” 

Michael closed and locked the door with his powers and then groaned from the effort.

The couch moved under him as Alex sat down but Michael graciously ignored it in favor of wriggling his way into his lap. Alex laughed softly and started carding his fingers through Michael’s hair. “Long day?”

“Max broke the power grid and almost killed a couple of people at the hospital. He and Valenti got into it when Valenti came back to the hospital to find his patient on his deathbed.”

“Is the patient ok?”

“Mhm. Whatever Valenti said lit a fire under Max’s ass and he almost killed himself juicing the grid back up. Isobel was freaking out because she couldn’t feel him in her head for a few minutes but then Cam found him in the basement and called it in so we went and got him. Valenti actually came through for us and took care of Max’s exam himself so no other doctor touched him.”

“That was nice of him.”

“We’re not gonna start liking Valenti, are we? He was an asshole who made your life hell for years.”

“I know.” Alex was quiet. “But people change, right?”

Michael groaned. “I still don’t like him.”

“You don’t have to.” His fingers kept up a steady rhythm in Michael’s hair and the sweet relief of sleep was calling to him. “What’s got you so exhausted?”

“Mm?” 

“Sounds like Max had a busy day, what about you?”

“Oh, Isobel suggested we start practicing our powers so if we have to use them like she tried on Liz and Max on the power grid, it doesn’t kill us.” 

“That’s smart.”

“No.” Michael burrowed his face into Alex’s stomach. “Tired.”

Alex chuckled. “The bed is more comfortable than the couch.” Michael weighed the two seriously for a moment. Yes, their bed was infinitely more comfortable than the couch but the couch was presently under him and required zero moving. Alex shifted. “I’m not sleeping on the couch.”

Michael groaned but pushed himself up. Bed it was. He staggered to his feet and Alex helped him into the bedroom, Michael again falling flat on his face without bothering to take anything off. Alex grumbled good-naturedly as he stripped Michael down to his boxers and threw a blanket over him.

“Wait, where are you going?” Michael reached for Alex as Alex made for the door. “Sleep.” He patted the space next to him.

Alex shook his head. “I’m in the middle of something. I’ll come to bed in a bit.”

“Alex-”

“It’s about my dad,” he explained. “Something Kyle said got me thinking and I’m close to an answer. I’ll be next to you before you know it,” he promised as he shut the door.

Michael called his name but he didn’t come back. He thought vaguely of following and continuing the conversation because anything that has to do with Jesse Manes requires a conversation but he was out before he could even move.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the thirsty housewives bit at the beginning is my homage to christchex's fantastic [The Real Thirsty Housewives of Roswell, NM](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19453612)
> 
> If you haven't read it yet, what are you even doing with your life???? Go read it!


	5. the plan goes awry

Michael fell off the edge of the bed reaching for the annoying ringing.

“Fuck,” he cursed as he hit the ground hard, the offending technology crashing next to him.

“What the fuck do you want?” He answered.

“Get over to Isobel’s.” Max’s voice was terse in the way it only ever was when Isobel was in trouble. It woke Michael up faster than the words themselves ever could have.

“It happened again?” Isobel had been having blackouts the past few weeks, ever since Max blew the city power grid. Nothing had happened as far as they knew but she was losing stretches of time increasingly frequently.

“Yeah,” Max agreed. “And now she’s thrown Noah out of the house and locked all the doors and windows. Says she can’t do anything to anyone if she can’t get out of the house.”

“Fuck. Okay.” He hung up without bothering to say goodbye and dropped the phone on the floor next to his head. “Fuck,” he groaned as he dragged both of his hands down his face. 

With another curse, he finally rolled over onto his knees and slowly pushed himself to his feet. From the angle of the light it was still early, something confirmed when he picked his phone up and checked the time, and Alex wasn’t in bed. Michael had stayed up as late as he could, waiting for Alex to put away the computer and come to bed but either Alex hadn’t made it that far or he was already up for the day. Considering it was Saturday and he didn’t have to work, the latter was unlikely. 

“Alex?” He called softly as he left the bedroom. He checked the living room in some vain hope that Alex was just lost in the middle of yet another binge watching session but the room was empty. Slowly, he made his way down the hallway to the former linen closet, current office space (he’d carved out just enough space for a chair and ledge wide enough to fit a laptop but it was plenty) and sure enough, there was Alex. He was slumped over in the seat, his head pillowed on one of his arms while the other still rested on the keyboard. At least the screen was black, enough time having passed for it to go to sleep. That was better than some other mornings recently.

Michael left him sleeping, knowing better than to wake him up once he was finally able to shut his eyes, and quickly showered and changed. Alex found him anyway while he was scribbling a note to explain where he’d gone.

“What are you doing up?” Alex asked through a yawn.

“Isobel had another blackout and now she’s locked herself in her house. I need to go get her out,” Michael explained quickly. “Go back to sleep. You could use it.”

“Thanks,” Alex glared as he slumped against the counter. Michael cupped his jaw and kissed his forehead.

“You can’t have gotten much sleep last night is all. You were working late.” He nudged him gently towards the hallway. “You don’t have anywhere to be today so go to bed.”

Alex nodded wearily as he trudged towards the bed. They both knew it was unlikely that Alex could fall asleep again but Michael appreciated the effort.

\---

Noah met him at his car before he could even shut the engine off. “Open the door,” he half ordered, half begged.

Michael didn’t say anything, just pushed gently at his door until Noah backed up. When he was free of the truck, he made his way to where Max kneeled at the front door, lock picks in hand as he fiddled with the lock.

“Isn’t that against the law, Deputy?” 

Max dropped the picks with a sigh of relief. “Where the hell have you been?”

“At the cabin,” he replied absently as he stared at the lock, his brain flipping through the schematics he’d looked over when Isobel and Noah moved in. Twisting the pins and unlocking the door was easy enough provided he knew what the mechanism looked like. In a second, the click of the door unlocking was audible. Noah breezed past both Michael and Max and burst into the house.

“Isobel!” Noah’s voice echoed as he hurried through the house. Michael watched as he peeked into every room he passed but otherwise he beelined for their bedroom. 

It really shouldn’t have been as surprising as it was that the bedroom door was locked. Michael picked the lock but it still didn’t budge.

“Go away!” Isobel cried through the door. “Just leave me here and go!”

“No!” Noah cried back. “Come on, baby, talk to me. What’s going on?”

There was a sniffle and some shuffling and then Isobel’s voice was suddenly much closer. “I don’t know.”

“Iz-” Max sighed.

“I don’t!” She snapped. “I’m losing  _ days _ now. It was Thursday and then I looked at my phone and it’s Saturday morning and I have no idea what happened in between. I don’t know where I went or what I did. Can you take one fucking second and try and imagine how terrifying that is?”

None of the men knew how to respond. “Is locking yourself in your house really the way to go?” Max asked worriedly. 

“I don’t know what else to do. At least if I can’t get out of the house, I know where I am.” Isobel’s voice was smaller, harder to hear. 

“Izzy-” Michael tried.

“No, Michael. I know you can open the door but I’m asking you,  _ please _ , don’t.” There was a loud thump like Isobel hit the door. “I- I’m so scared.”

“Baby, we’re here. You aren’t alone,” Noah pressed his head to the door.

“I know but-”

“Iz?” Max asked when she trailed off.

“I feel like I’m never alone,” her reply was barely a whisper. If she hadn’t been pressed against the door, if the men had been making even the slightest sound, they wouldn’t have heard her. “I feel like there’s someone else with me, all of the time. Like- like they’re in my head.”

Noah shot Michael and Max a look, fear etched into his face. Michael didn’t know what to say to him and looked to Max. Max looked more horrified than either of them, which Michael supposed he could understand. He and Isobel had always had each other, a connection so strong it existed in their minds as a tangible thing. If someone was in Isobel’s mind, it wouldn’t be too hard to get into Max’s.

With a sigh, Michael sat down on the floor and made himself comfortable. Max and Noah stared at him but he shrugged them off. He knew his sister: she could outstubborn all of them combined blindfolded with both hands tied behind her back. “Talk to us, Isobel. What’s going on?” 

Silence.

As it dragged on, Max slowly slid to the floor opposite Michael, his legs outstretched, feet knocking into Michael’s hip. Michael shot him a glare but Max didn’t even deign to look at him. Noah stayed standing, pressed against the door.

“Izzy?”

“It started after Max’s big blow up,” Isobel said slowly. Her voice was still muffled by the door but it was louder now than it had been earlier. “I would get this feeling, like someone was watching me but there was never anyone there. It wasn’t all of the time,” she hastened to add. “Just- just sometimes. Usually after we were practicing. I’d get so tired and drained from our training sessions that I’d start to doze off but then it would be there. That feeling. It was in the back of my head but it didn’t feel- normal. It didn’t feel like me.”

She trailed off and the silence stretched. None of them knew what to say. How do you respond when someone tells you there’s something in their mind that isn’t them?

“Then the episodes started.” Isobel picked back up after a while. “There’s no- no trend or reason to them. I just- sometimes I would blink and it would be minutes or even hours later. Sometimes I’d be in the same spot but sometimes I’d be somewhere completely different. And no one seemed to notice. I would ask you what I did and you would tell me we had lunch or something. Nothing strange or unusual but I couldn’t remember any of it.” She took a deep breath. “Except that feeling got worse. The last couple of episodes I could almost feel them coming on because that feeling in my head would get stronger. Like someone else was playing around in there. And then afterwards, it takes a second for things to come into focus but it’s like you’re hyper aware that you only get to see again because someone else took off your blindfold.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Noah’s voice cracked.

“Because it sounds insane!” Isobel exploded. “I sound like a goddamn crazy person talking about someone else being inside my head! I’m the freaking telepath around here;  _ I’m  _ the person in other people’s heads. No one should be in mine except  _ me _ .”

“Could there be another telepath?” Michael wondered.

Max shook his head. “If there was another alien in Roswell, we’d know.” He paused. “We’d  _ know _ .”

“How?” Noah asked. “It’s not like you three go around advertising it. How exactly would you know if there was another alien?”

“No, he’s right,” Michael argued. “We can sense each other. We’d know if there was someone else.”

Noah didn’t look convinced but he didn’t argue. “Isobel, what’s your plan? Are you just going to stay locked in the bedroom forever?”

“I don’t know!” She yelled back. “That’s the whole point, Noah. I don’t fucking know.”

“Look, we’re here, okay? We won’t let you leave or do anything crazy, so just come out of the room, Iz,” Max cajoled. “If we can’t think of anything better we’ll lock you back in when we leave.” Noah and Michael both glared at him but he waved them off. “It feels ridiculous to talk to you through a fucking door.”

The silence stretched for several minutes, each of them unwilling to press the issue less Isobel retreat further.

Finally, they heard something shift on the other side of the door and it cracked open.

  
Noah was on his feet and through the door instantly, Isobel wrapped tightly in his arms. Max and Michael looked on with an equal sigh of relief. 

“Ok,” Isobel whispered into Noah’s shirt. “Let’s figure this shit out.”

\---

He tried to go back to sleep, he really did, but sleep and Alex had a fickle relationship. After laying on the bed for half an hour with no success, Alex got back to work.

Project Shepherd was a black hole of information. He couldn’t find any records on it specifically but there was enough information surrounding it that he was able to parse out the details. It had been in operation from 1947 to 2014 and based out of Roswell. A Manes had been at the helm throughout its entire duration until Congress shut it down for lack of progress. 

If what Kyle said was true, though, Jesse Manes had kept it running since then. Alex wasn’t sure if it was a family pride thing, keeping their family legacy from crashing and burning, or if there was some kind of personal vendetta going on, but Jesse seemed hell bent on finding and eliminating any potential alien threat. If Alex’s research was correct, he’d even gone so far as to blackmail a local deputy to spy for him.

Jenna Cameron, his research told him, was a retired, decorated soldier. She served two tours in Afghanistan in the Army before receiving an honorable discharge and moving to New Mexico. The locale was an interesting choice since she had no family in the area nor any previous experience here but Alex wasn’t too concerned about that. It looked like his father had only approached her recently, rather than recruited her to come here.

He worked until the screen started to waver in front of his eyes, at which point his stomach reminded him that he hadn’t eaten since dinner the night before. At least, he thinks it was the night before. Ever since he was permitted to work remotely on the Foster Ranch project, the days had started to blend together. He rarely left the cabin or even put his computer down. Learning that his father was investigating aliens in Roswell, that he was a viable threat to Michael and his family, had Alex working non-stop to find out as much as he could. There was no way he could move against him until he had all of the information and the longer he took to find it, the greater a threat he posed.

Alex shut the laptop and deigned to attend to his bodily needs. A quick shower and a sandwich later, he decided to get out of the house for a bit. It was time to meet Jenna Cameron in person. 

Of course, while that was a great idea in theory, practically, it was imperfect. In all of his research, he somehow hadn’t thought to look up her current address. In the end, he headed over to the Sheriff’s station and hoped she was working.

She was.

And she did not seem happy.

“Can I help you, Captain Manes?” 

“I was hoping to speak with you about something. It’s uh- sensitive.” She arched an eyebrow but led him to an interview room. Alex glanced at the one way mirror that took up the entire wall.

“Ever since the power outage, the cameras in this room have been on the fritz so we never use it,” Jenna explained when she caught his look. “We’re alone.”

Alex nodded and eyed the table and chair set up. He’d love to sit down, his long nights making his leg ache constantly, but he didn’t want to give her the upper hand. 

“What can I help you with, Captain?” Jenna asked him again.

“I understand you’ve had some recent interactions with my father, Chief Master Sergeant Jesse Manes.” It wasn’t a question for him anymore so he didn’t bother to phrase it as such. To her credit, Jenna didn’t deny it. She merely raised her chin and waited for him to continue. “I’d like to talk about why.”

Jenna didn’t answer right away, her face blank as she eyed Alex. Alex didn’t have anything else to say so he finally took a seat and waited. 

“You’re in a relationship with Michael Guerin.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yes.” Alex didn’t react, not yet. There were a million reasons she could bring that up, not least of which was his father’s prejudices.

“He and Max Evans are close.”

“Practically brothers.”

Jenna snorted. “They hate each other.”

“You don’t have brothers, do you?”

She tilted her head to concede the point as she slid smoothly into the other chair. “Max is my partner and my friend,” and something more if Michael’s gossip was to be believed, “and something weird is going on with him. Your father approached me three weeks ago and asked me to report anything I found on him.”

“Just Max?”

“No. He mentioned the whole department, said he doesn’t trust the Sheriff, but he specifically mentioned keeping a close eye on my partner.”

Alex leaned back in his chair. “Why tell me?”

“Because I don’t trust a man who threatens my sister to force me to spy on my own damn partner,” Jenna admitted bluntly. Ah, so it was threats instead of blackmail. “And if you’re with Michael, then you obviously have to give a shit about Max too. And as far as I can tell there’s no love lost between you and your father. If this is going to turn into some kind of war, I know which side I’d rather be on.”

Alex smirked as he appraised her. He liked her. “You know Kyle Valenti?”

“The Sheriff’s son?”

“My father approached him too, as a civilian contractor.”

“He’s a doctor.” Jenna was clearly confused. “Why would Chief Sergeant Manes need a civilian doctor?”

“Excellent question,” he stood up. “Touch base with Kyle in the next few days and see if you can compare notes about the work you’ve been doing with my father. I’m looking into his operation as best I can but I’ll need to talk with both of you again before I make any moves.”

Jenna rose fluidly. “I don’t take orders from you, Captain.”

“Call me Alex,” he requested. “And don’t think of them as orders. It’s just me, asking for help in taking down my father.”

She searched his face for a moment before nodding. “Alright. I think I can help with that.” Alex smiled. “But I’m going to need some answers. Right now, I don’t know what the hell is going on but I have a lot of questions.”

“Fair enough. We’ll talk,” Alex promised.

\---

He should have paid more attention to his surroundings. 

“Alex!” Kyle’s voice was far too cheery for a police station. “What brings you here? I haven’t seen you in town in a while.”

Alex glared. “I was just leaving.”

Kyle frowned but followed him outside. “Hey,” he grabbed Alex’s elbow. “I don’t mean to bother you but you said you were going to look into Project Shepherd. That was weeks ago and I haven’t heard from you.”

“That’s because I’m still looking.” Alex stared at Kyle’s hand until he dropped it. “I’ll be in touch when I’m done.”

“Look,” Kyle stepped neatly in front of him when he tried to walk away. “I get that you have your issues with your father and with,” he lowered his voice, “the subject of his work,” he spoke again at a normal level, “but I’m the one who has to talk to the guy. He wants updates, okay? What am I supposed to tell him?”

“Nothing,” Alex replied. “You tell him nothing. Give him no information at all.”

Kyle grimaced. “That’s not really an option. He’s already threatened to put me on the no-fly list and a terrorist watch list if I don’t start getting with the program.”

“He can’t do that,” Alex denied. Kyle gave him a look and he closed his eyes briefly. “He  _ shouldn’t _ be able to do that. There’s protocol for adding someone to a terrorist watch list but I suppose he’d find a way.” He let out a breath. “Fine. Come by the cabin toni- tomorrow and we’ll talk. In the meantime, talk to Jenna Cameron. He’s roped her into helping him too; you two can compare notes.”

He walked away before Kyle could say anything more. 

“Alex!” 

Alex closed his eyes and cursed under his breath. This is why he didn’t leave the cabin these days. Too many goddamn interruptions when all he wanted to do was get back to work.

“Maria!” He greeted as she jogged across the street to hug him. “Hey.”

“Hey yourself, stranger. I haven’t seen you in weeks.”

“Yeah, sorry, I’ve been really busy with work.” He tried to look apologetic. The truth was, there would be time for friends when his father was gone and he knew Michael was safe.

“Are you busy now?” Alex opened his mouth to say yes when another voice cut him off. 

“Alex Manes!” He couldn’t help the smile that broke out in response. Nor could he resist the thin arms that tugged him into a hug. “As I live in breathe, boy, you look good! I miss the eyeliner but the shoulders make up for it.” Weak hands gripped said shoulders gently.

Alex laughed. “Hi, Mimi.”

“Are you joining us for lunch?” Well fuck. There were few people in the world he couldn’t deny. Michael being one of them, Isobel another. Mama DeLuca? Well he’d rather face Isobel’s wrath than turn her down.

“I’d love to.”

Mimi smiled. “Excellent. Rosa is joining us at the Crashdown.”

“Liz, Mom,” Maria corrected gently. “Liz is joining us.”

“Oh. Right,” Mimi looked down, her face fallen for a moment before she looked up and smiled brightly. “Liz is joining us. It’s been a while since I’ve seen the three of you all together. It’ll be nice.”

Without another word, the DeLuca women tugged Alex along with them to the Crashdown and deposited him in the trio’s old booth in the back corner. They barely had time to order milkshakes before Liz appeared next to them, her arms wrapping around Mimi in a tight hug before she slid in next to Alex.

The next few hours were nice. Aside from the crushing realization that Mimi’s condition was getting much worse, it was good for Alex to be out of the house and spending time with his friends. If he constantly felt a pull towards the cabin and his work, well, he did his best to ignore it for a little while.

“Hey,” Liz grabbed him as they all headed for their own cars. Maria needed to get Mimi back home and Liz had to get to the lab so Alex was finally able to get going. The last thing he wanted right now was to be waylaid into another conversation. “Do you think Max could help?”

“Mimi?” Alex shook his head softly. “Max can’t heal the brain, Liz. You know that. It’s why Rosa’s in the coma instead of walking and talking and driving you crazy.”

“Right, I know. I just-” she stopped and shook her head. “Rosa had severe brain trauma. Mimi’s just got some memory problems. It’s hardly the same thing.”

“Liz,” Alex started, his voice soft. “If it bothers you, talk to Max, he knows the extent of his powers better than anyone, but as far as I know, the brain is too complicated for him to heal. With physical injuries to the body, he can sort of force the body back into the condition it was in, healing any wound, but with the head? With conditions like Mimi’s, there’s nothing physically wrong. So there’s nothing for him to fix.”

Liz didn’t reply, she just turned her head and stared after the DeLuca’s car as it drove away, a dust cloud following them down the road. “I want to help.”

“You can’t. Maybe Max can, but that’s his call, not yours.”

“Yeah,” she agreed softly. “I just- I want to be able to do something.”

“Me too.”

\---

The bed was cold. You’d think he’d be used to it but getting to sleep next to Alex every night was still so new even after he’d been back in Roswell for months that being alone in a big bed was enough to wake Michael up some nights.

He felt the bed next to him just to make sure Alex hadn’t curled away from him but the space was empty. He cracked open an eyelid to check the state of the sheets and was pleasantly surprised to find them a mess. At least Alex did actually come to bed at one point.

Michael groaned softly and rolled out of bed. Maybe he could convince Alex to step away from the laptop tonight.

He was halfway to the tiny office when the blue glow of the TV stopped him in his tracks. Slowly, he crept down the hallway and peered into the living room.

“Which one is this?” 

“One Tree Hill,” Alex replied, unsurprised to hear him. Michael rounded the couch and flopped down next to Alex. Without a word, Alex untucked his blanket and threw the end over Michael’s lap.

“What’s it about?” He couldn’t keep up with Alex’s shows. The man had nightmares on top of insomnia and his usual solution was to binge everything on Netflix. It didn’t matter if Michael caught an episode one night because Alex would most likely just be on to an entirely different show the next time.

“Small town in North Carolina. Basketball. Fucked up families.” Alex’s voice was soft. He didn’t sound tired, though, more...drained. Like he was exhausted but sleep just wasn’t an option.

“Good?”

Alex hummed. “How’s Isobel?” He asked without looking away from the screen.

“Scared. She said she feels someone else in her head sometimes.” Now the TV got paused. Alex shifted to look at him.

“Is she okay?”

Michael shrugged. “We locked the doors behind us and Noah is crashing at the Airstream. None of us like it but if it makes her feel safer, we can’t exactly argue with her.”

“Fuck,” Alex let out softly.

“Yeah.” He shook his head. “We’ll figure it out. How was your day? Did you get back to sleep after I left this morning?” 

Alex looked away. “I tried but you know how it is.” A pause. “I talked to Jenna Cameron. Turns out I was right about my dad recruiting her. Good thing is, though, that she likes Max a hell of a lot more than she likes my father. She’s willing to help me but she wants answers. After what she saw at the hospital, I don’t blame her.”

“Talk to Max,” Michael suggested. “See if he’s ok with telling her.”

“Are you okay with it?” Alex asked softly. Michael shrugged. He was never okay with putting his life in someone else’s hands but this thing was getting bigger than them and they needed all of the help they could get. If Alex thought she needed to know, he trusted his judgement. Alex seemed to read all of that in the movement of his shoulders because he just brushed a kiss over the crown of his head. “Ok. I’ll talk to Max.”

“So you got out of the house?” If he talked to Cam then he had to have gone into town. “Did you by chance stop by the store?”

Alex winced. “I forgot the list, sorry. I got kidnapped by the DeLucas.”

“DeLucas plural?”

He nodded. “Mimi was out and about today. She’s doing worse, could hardly recognize Liz half the time - kept calling her Rosa.”

“How’d Liz take that?”

“Surprisingly well. But she wanted to know if Max could heal Mimi.”

“He can’t.”

“I know. That’s what I told her but I don’t think she was convinced.” Alex shifted until his back was pressed against Michael’s chest. “Oh, Mimi read my palm,” he recalled with a laugh.

“Oh yeah? Anything good in our future?”

“She said I’m gonna get a beagle.” Alex was still laughing.

“A beagle, huh? Not quite what I had in mind but we could make it work.” Maybe there was something to Mimi’s ‘powers’ after all, Michael mused. He’d been trying to figure out how to bring up the topic of a dog for weeks. For the past couple of years, any time Michael and Alex made plans for later, for  _ after _ , they always included a dog. Now that Alex was back in Roswell and they were settled into the cabin, Michael had been trying to broach the subject again.

Except Alex laughed. “Yeah, no. We’re not getting a beagle.”

“No? What kind of dog, then?”

“No dog.”

Something tightened in Michael’s gut. No dog? “What do you mean? You don’t want a dog?”

“What do we need a dog for?” To start their life together. Actually together, now. It was supposed to be the first step in moving forward, broadening their little family. That was the  _ plan _ . 

Michael couldn’t bring himself to vocalize a reply so he just hummed noncommittally and sank back into the couch cushions. Alex started the show back up and Michael stared at it blankly, his mind running too fast for him to bother even attempting to watch.

Alex didn’t want a dog. After years of talking about it and planning for it, he suddenly changed his mind. What did that mean? What else had he changed his mind about?


	6. ding dong the witch is dead

He was ready.

Almost two months after talking to Kyle about Project Shepherd, Alex was finally ready to confront his father. He had the research, the insight from Kyle and Jenna, and the backing of his commander once he’d presented his findings. 

His father was about to be a blip in his rearview mirror and Alex was excited. Also batshit terrified but he was doing his best to ignore that part. If he messed this up, if he told his father what he knew and then let him loose, his father was going to come after Michael. He knew it in his bones.

So Alex just had to make sure that didn’t happen.

No pressure.

He double checked that he had everything he needed and got out of the car. The entrance to the bunker (what was it with this town and bunkers?) was badly hidden beneath a bit of shrubbery and his father’s Jeep was parked right next to it so Alex didn’t have to worry about being in the wrong place. He just found a place to sit and waited for Jesse to appear.

It wasn’t a long wait. Less than half an hour later, the bunker doors hissed open and his father appeared. 

“Morning!” He called brightly as Jesse stepped past him without noticing him. His father really was losing a step in his old age. That or he just found Alex so utterly insignificant that he wasn’t worth a glance even when he didn’t know it was him.

Jesse faltered and turned around slowly. “Alex,” he greeted carefully. “What are you doing here?”

Alex grinned wickedly. “Father-son bonding time.” Without warning, he grabbed his cane tightly and smashed his father across the head. Jesse bounced off the side of the Jeep on his way to the ground but Alex wasn’t too terribly worried about that.

“Help?” He called lightly once he was sure the other man was out cold. A few seconds later, Jenna and Kyle appeared from around the corner.

“This was your brilliant plan?” Jenna asked with a frown. “How’d you plan to get him into the bunker.”

Alex smirked. “That’s what you’re here for. Besides, how could I pass up an opportunity like this?” He flipped the cane around in his hand so he could grab the handgrip. Jenna rolled her eyes at him but bent down to help Kyle with Jesse’s limp form. Together they got him into the bunker.

Jenna took care of securing him while Alex took in the command center. It was old, likely an original part of the base above. The only upgrades he could see were the computers but even they were a little outdated. His father might have been able to keep Project Shepherd running after the government shut him down but he clearly didn’t have the funding to keep everything up to date.

“Now what?” Kyle asked. Alex didn’t have to turn around to know that he had his hands on his hips. Kyle had expressed his frustration with this operation multiple times lately. Alex couldn’t really blame him, it’s not like he had a choice in getting roped into it.

“Now,” Alex replied as he sat down at the console, “I find out just how much my father knows.”

It took a little while to break through the firewalls but quite frankly, Alex had done harder jobs under enemy fire so this was a bit of a breeze. At some point, while he was working, Jenna and Kyle found an old ball and starting kicking it around the bunker.

“Really?” Alex asked, when he saw what they were doing.

“Look, I’m going fucking stircrazy in here waiting for him to wake up and I need to do something,” Kyle told him. Jenna just shrugged. She was used to doing stupid shit to relieve tension in high pressure sitations.

Alex couldn’t actually think of an objection so he just waved them on. 

A series of groans told them when Jesse started to wake up but Alex ignored him, his attention fixed on the screen in front of him. Behind him, he heard the ball stutter to a stop as Jenna and Kyle became aware of Jesse but he ignored them too. He was so close. He could feel it. Project Shepherd and all of its files were right at his fingertips and he just needed a few more minutes.

“Alex?” His father’s voice was groggy. Alex looked over his shoulder and smiled but didn’t say anything. Jenna and Kyle hovered on the other side of the room, positioned directly behind his father so he wouldn’t see them. “What are you doing?”

“Breaking into your files,” Alex answered easily as he turned his back to his father again. “Your security is uh- shit.” 

“You’re in over your head. Stop now and leave and I’ll forget this ever happened.” Alex hummed sarcastically back. Sure he would. His father, the merciful one.

A few seconds later, Alex had it. The system unlocked and Project Shepherd opened wide, his for the taking.

Wait.

Fuck.

_ Fuck. _

Alex was an idiot. He was a goddamn moron. He’d thought he had it. Project Shepherd, he thought he had it.

He was a fool. 

Document upon document, file after file, everything opened up for him and there was just so much of it. So much more than Alex had even thought possible. He’d have to go through it, all of it. Just glancing at the files as they opened was enough to tell Alex that Michael and his siblings weren’t alone. They weren’t the only aliens to survive the 1947 crash.

Alex stood up as a file opened and Michael’s face was plastered across an entire screen. Another file opened and showed surveillance footage of the cabin, Sanders’, Max’s house, and Isobel’s house. 

_ Fuck _ .

He heard movement from behind him and turned to see Kyle and Jenna creeping forward, their mouths agape as they stared at the screens. His father, on the other hand, was relaxing in his chair as much as the bindings allowed him.

“You should’ve walked away, Alex.” And fuck, a man tied to a chair should not sound that smug. “You’re in over your head, son-”

“Don’t call me that!” 

“You’ve been deceived for years. These aliens have ways of getting into your head and toying with you. Making you see and hear and feel things that you wouldn’t normally. Max and Isobel Evans and Michael Guerin have been using you in an attempt to infiltrate our family for  _ years _ . It’s why I’ve kept you at arm’s length ever since you let an alien defile you.” Kyle snorted and Jesse tensed. He craned his neck to look over his shoulder but Jenna pulled Kyle out of his view. 

“Right,” Alex laughed mirthlessly, “Michael’s why you can’t stand to acknowledge me. It all makes sense now.” 

“He’s a monster,” Jesse told him calmly. “I know you’re confused. You think he loves you, but he doesn’t. His kind aren’t capable of love. They know only malice and hatred. They are a violent race capable only of unprovoked destruction and-”

“Do not,” Alex cut him off, his voice deathly still, “talk to me about unprovoked violence and destruction.” Not in the same breath as Michael, he didn’t add. Flashes of a hammer bashing into a hand over and over flitted before his eyes and he blinked them away.

His father didn’t say anything more while Alex took a deep breath to get himself under control.

“I need to thank you,” he said after a beat. 

“Thank me?” Jesse’s eyebrows raised into his hairline.

“Mmm,” Alex agreed. “I’ve been afraid for years that there might be a massive government conspiracy looking into aliens in Roswell, into Michael and his family. But if it wasn’t for you, I never would’ve found it. Hell, if it wasn’t for you,  _ dad _ , I never would’ve been able to access all of Project Shepherd’s files. See every system has a weak point and you’re it.” He smirked as Jesse lost the smug act.

“So what now? You turn me over to them?”

“No. They wouldn’t know what to do with you,” Alex told him. “You see, they aren’t actually violent or out for humanity’s destruction. They just want to live their lives. So you’re going to go far far away and leave them the hell alone.”

Jesse laughed. “Because you say so?”

Jenna slid a file across the table for Alex. “No. Because you don’t have any other options. I spoke with Commander Locke recently. He was very interested to find out you’ve been running a discontinued program right under his nose. You’ve been reassigned to a training program out of Niger. If you choose not to accept the orders, you’ll be court martialed and dishonorably discharged.” Alex blinked innocently. “Isn’t it nice to have choices?” He dropped the file in his father’s lap and cut the bindings. “Your weapons are in your vehicle. The Commander is expecting to hear from you before noon, so you have,” he twisted his wrist to check his watch, “17 minutes to decide.”

Jesse grabbed the file and stood up as soon as his wrists were free. He was barely an inch away from Alex’s face and Alex could see in his eyes that he was weighing the costs of removing Alex from the situation.

“Chief Sergeant Manes,” Jenna interjected calmly and oh was Alex glad he decided to bring her along for this. His father rocked back on his heels and turned his head slightly in Jenna’s direction. “I will remind you that assault with a deadly weapon is a felony and cause for automatic discharge from the US Armed Forces. As a member of the Chaves County Sheriff’s Department I can and will arrest you if you so much as raise a finger right now.”

Jesse stared at Alex for a long moment before his eyes flicked to the screens behind him. Without a word he turned and walked out of the bunker, Jenna and Kyle both turning and following to ensure that he made it to his vehicle.

The second he was alone, Alex collapsed. He fell onto the steps with a heavy thud and dropped his head into his hands. After a few deep breaths he turned his attention to the screens. There were still new files opening even as he watched and he knew that there were an untold number more.

There was no way his father was running this by myself. Project Shepherd may have been shut down but it was still in operation, albeit covertly, and that meant that there was more to find. More files, more information, more people who knew about Michael and his siblings.

Fuck.

\---

Michael wasn’t entirely sure what Max and Isobel hoped to accomplish with these training sessions but it made Isobel feel safer so he didn’t complain.

Even if they did take up way too many hours of his already limited time.

“Do it again!” Max yelled in what he probably thought was an encouraging voice. Michael rolled his eyes and turned his attention to Max’s car instead of the table he was supposed to be moving.

It wasn’t much but after a few seconds Max’s jeep lifted off of the ground, all four wheels hovering over the dirt driveway for a moment before Michael let it crash back down to Earth.

“Really?” Max asked plaintively. “Why?”

Michael shrugged. “What’s the point of this?”

“To strengthen our powers,” Isobel reminded him. He turned around to see her kneeling in front of Kyle, Kyle’s eyes unfocused as she tried to get him to do something.

“Right,” he muttered as he turned back to Max. “And what are you doing?”

Max glanced from the circuit board in front of him to Isobel over his shoulder and shrugged. “It’s easier for you two,” he complained. “How am I supposed to test out healing people?” 

“So she’s got you powering up a dead circuit?” Michael stuffed his hands in his pockets and wandered over for a closer look. “That’s not going to work.”

“I haven’t tried yet.” Max glared at him.

Michael rolled his eyes and pointed at a missing connection. “It literally won’t work. Doesn’t matter how much juice you give it if it’s incomplete.”

Max sighed and leaned on the table. 

“You should come to the hospital,” Kyle suggested. “I have a bunch of patients who could use your magic touch, Evans.” He added a leer and an eyebrow waggle.

The conversation stopped as everyone stared at him. Isobel swayed a bit and fell on her butt next to him, a few drops of blood spilling from her nose as she grinned.

“Holy shit,” Michael laughed as he started to applaud. Actions were one thing, words another. Isobel had always been able to influence others to do as she wished but getting them to say exactly what she wanted was almost impossible. Until now.

Maybe this whole training thing wasn’t complete bullshit after all.

With Isobel’s success, they decided to take a break. Liz and Kyle grabbed the food and paper plates while Max and Michael took care of the drinks. They left Noah to tend to Isobel as she wavered.

“How’s Alex?” Liz asked once they were finished eating. “I feel like I haven’t seen him in forever, he’s always busy.”

That’s a damn good question, Michael thought as he picked at the label on his beer. “You saw him last weekend.”

Liz rolled her eyes. “Ok, yeah, he was here last weekend but he had his computer with him and he worked the whole time. I don’t think he managed more than like five words the whole day. Is the new project out at Foster Ranch really that important?”

Michael shrugged. “He’s going through the Project Shepherd stuff too,” he defended. Seeing just how big of an operation it was and how much information had freaked Alex out. In the month or so since he confronted his father, Alex had become obsessed with figuring out everything he could about Project Shepherd. “With work taking up a lot of time, he doesn’t really have that much free time for Project Shepherd and he’s worried about it. He wants to make sure he doesn’t miss anything that could come back to bite us.”

“I get that but it would be nice to see him every once in a while. He was supposed to help Maria with the fundraiser at the Pony a few weeks back but he never showed.” Liz shrugged. “I was just a little worried since it’s been a while.”

“I’ll let him know you care,” he teased. His flippant tone merely got him an eye roll.

The conversation moved on after that, though it lingered on Michael’s mind. He’d noticed Alex’s increasingly antisocial behavior, of course he’d noticed, but he’d convinced himself that it wasn’t as bad as it seemed. If Liz was bringing it up, though, maybe it was.

“Michael!” Isobel snapped him out of his thoughts and shoved a piece of cake at him. “Eat up. I don’t want leftovers.”

“Where’d you get a cake?” Isobel didn’t eat sweets and she certainly didn’t bake.

“Fuck if I know,” she replied, faux lightness in her voice. Ah, the product of yet another episode then. In the past several months since they started, her episodes had only gotten increasingly frequent and increasingly long. Where originally they were for a few minutes or hours, Isobel now regularly lost days. He, Max, and Noah had gotten better at recognizing when Isobel wasn’t quite right but they only ever knew for sure when she came out of it.

Nowadays, the first sign was when Isobel would turn a pleading eye on them and her mouth would move like she was trying to say something. They had a theory that it was Isobel trying to snap out of it but she never remembered it after the fact. After a while, they stopped mentioning it.

“Any good?” Michael asked as he took the cake from her.

“I didn’t eat it,” Isobel shrugged before pausing. “Well, half of it was gone so I might have but I don’t remember so it doesn’t count.” She laughed lightly and fled before Michael could ask anything else. She did that a lot lately, physically avoided any conversation about her condition. That first day in the house was proving to be more and more of an anomaly and it made Michael glad that they’d convinced her to leave her room and talk to them. If only he’d known it would be the last full conversation they’d have on the subject.

Max caught his eye as Isobel flounced back into the house. They were both worried about her but neither one had any idea what to do about it.

“Hey,” Noah cornered him in the kitchen a while later. “Is everything okay?”

“What do you mean?” Michael knew perfectly well what he meant but he wasn’t going to make it easy. This was not a conversation he wanted to have, thank you very much Noah Bracken.

“Michael, when was the last time  _ you _ saw Alex?” Noah had enough sense not to sound accusing. “Ever since he took over Project Shepherd, he’s been like a ghost. And you’ve been spending a lot more time in town. Without Alex.”

“What are you accusing me of?”

“I’m not accusing you of anything,” Noah soothed. “But I’m still sleeping in the Airstream,” like Michael could forget. Isobel was still scared of her episodes and didn’t allow Noah in the house at night, “and you spend a lot of nights camped out on the lawn chairs after a late night at the Pony. I just- I just want to make sure you’re okay. And that you and Alex are okay.”

Michael ran a hand over his face. “We’re fine. Alex is just busy. It can be-” he paused and let out a breath. “We’re fine. I’m fine. It’s all-”

“Fine?”

The corner of his mouth ticked upwards in an imitation of a smile and he nodded. “Yeah.”

“If you say so,” Noah let it drop. “But if you need to talk…”

“Yeah, thanks. I’ll keep it in mind.”

Noah patted him on the shoulder and left him alone. When the door to the patio slammed shut, Michael sagged.

Ok. So things weren’t fine. So he’d barely seen Alex more than anyone else had despite technically living with the man. So what? It would pass. 

It had to.

\---

Michael paused outside the door, fighting the inexplicable urge to knock. It was his house as much as it was Alex’s, in theory at least, so he should just walk right in. But something stayed his hand.

A light flickered on, the glow shining out the window and illuminating the deck next to him. So Alex  _ was _ awake.  _ Miracle of miracles…. _

Michael quietly opened the door and stepped inside. He shut and locked the door and kicked off his shoes before turning around. 

“Hey,” Alex’s voice was soft, tired really. Michael couldn’t tell if it was because he was exhausted or because he’d just been asleep, but either way Alex was clearly headed straight for the bed. “It’s late.”

“Yeah, sorry.” Michael walked over and placed a perfunctory kiss on Alex’s lips en route to the fridge and yet another beer.

“You smell like the Pony,” Alex accused lightly.

“That would probably be because I was at the Pony,” Michael answered just as lightly as he opened the bottle and pressed it to his lips, tipping it up for a long drag.

Alex paused. “Bad day?” 

Michael barely contained his scoff, instead just shaking his day. “Just long. Go on to bed, you look tired.”

Alex huffed but smiled. “Thanks, Michael. Sure know how to make a guy feel special.”

Michael shrugged. “I thought maybe you’d already be asleep.”

“Then why come all the way out here? It’s a long drive and I know you have to work early. If you thought I would be asleep-”

Michael swallowed and looked away. “Guess I just wanted to see you.”

Alex raised an eyebrow and took a careful step forward, his weight leaning heavily on his crutches, a sure sign that he really needed to get to bed. “You wanted to see me sleep?”

“Just go to bed, Alex.” Michael rubbed at his eyes.

“Michael,” Alex tried but Michael shook his head. 

“It’s late. You have to get up early.”

“So do you,” Alex countered. “And yet you came here instead of staying at the trailer. Why?”

“Because I wanted to see you,” Michael repeated, his voice small.

“You see me all of the time, what’s so important about tonight?”

Now, Michael couldn’t hold it in. He scoffed loudly, the sound painful to his own ears. “Alex, I saw more of you when you were a thousand miles away.”

“What are you talking about?” Alex’s brow was furrowed and he’d closed the distance, now barely a foot from Michael. “We live together.”

“Do we?” Michael asked in disbelief. “Alex for the past couple of months, you’ve been obsessed with this Project Shepherd crap. And yeah I appreciate that you’re trying to protect me but- fuck!” He put his beer down and shoved both palms into his eyes, trying to will away the tears he could feel welling up. “You’re killing yourself trying to take down your father and I feel like I’m losing you.”

“Michael,” Alex reached for him. “I’m not-”

“When was the last time we had dinner together?” Michael cut him off. “Or even breakfast?” 

Alex paused, his mind working.

“When was the last time we talked? Like an actual conversation? Because we text occasionally, stupid shit about Max or Isobel or Kyle but we don’t actually talk about anything. Most nights you’re too tired to do anything other than go straight to sleep as soon as you get home. When you do come home that is.”

“It’s important, Michael.”

“I know it is, Alex. I do. But does it have to be done right now? Can’t you slow down or something? Take your time with it?”

“He’s hunting you!” Alex yelled. “He’s gone but who knows how many are left that want to lock you up and experiment on you for fuck’s sake and you want me to slow down?”

“I want  _ you _ !” Michael yelled back. “Fuck, Alex, are you not listening to me? We talked more when you were in Iraq than we have in the last month. Thanks to Skype I even saw you more than I do right now. 90% of our interactions have consisted of both of us asleep, Alex! And the other 10% is when only one of us is asleep and the other person is coming or going. I have to get up in four hours in order to make it to work on time in the morning and I still drove all the way out here because otherwise I wouldn’t have seen you this week!”

Alex’s eyes flicked over to the calendar on the wall. “It hasn’t been a week. We were just at Max’s for your training session.”

Michael closed his eyes. “That was on Sunday. Last Sunday.”

“Today’s-”

“Sunday.” Michael looked at the clock. “Or rather, Monday morning.”

Alex shook his head. “No, it hasn’t been that long.”

Michael slumped against the counter, the fight suddenly leaving him. “Yeah, it has. And it’s not the first time.” He sighed heavily. “I thought things would be better with you home but how is this better?”

Alex closed the distance and slipped a hand free of its crutch, both of them ignoring it as it clattered to the ground. He gently cupped Michael’s face and directed him to look at Alex.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize. I just want you safe, Michael. I thought, so what if we miss a dinner every now and then if it means he won’t ever get his hands on you again? I didn’t mean for it to be every dinner.” He stroked Michael’s chin softly. “I’ll do better.” He leaned his forehead against Michael’s. “Things will be better. I’m here, Michael. I’m here.”

“Then be here,” Michael whispered. “Please just be here.”

“I will. I promise.” Alex closed his eyes. “And if I forget or get carried away at work, I need you to say something. Come get me or call me or something but please don’t let it get this bad again. I’ve missed you.”

“Then why didn’t you stop working? Why didn’t you call or text or come to the trailer?”

Alex picked his head up and slid his hand back into Michael’s hair, gripping gently and picking Michael’s head up until he looked at him. “Because I’ve spent ten years missing you, Michael. I’m used to it. What I’m not used to is being able to pick up the phone and have you be there. I’m still not used to being able to get in my car and see you in person in just a few minutes. There’s a learning curve here, Cowboy. It’s going to take time to overwrite the last ten years. But we both have to work at it. Okay?”

Michael nodded. 

“Okay,” Alex agreed. “Now how about we go to sleep because it’s two o’clock in the morning and we’re both exhausted. And then tomorrow, I grab some lunch from the Crashdown and meet you at the junkyard around noon?”

“Lunch sounds nice.”

“Then we’ll do lunch. And maybe dinner.”

Michael raised an eyebrow. “Two meals with you in one day?! I don’t know if I can handle that.”

Alex pressed a light kiss to his lips. “Well handle it, Cowboy. And get used to it.”

Michael’s lips quirked up in a small smile. “I think I can do that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the witch being jesse manes and dead being wishful thinking


	7. Texas

“A faith healer?” Michael leveled Max with an unimpressed look. Next to him, Alex barely contained a snort. “For what?”

“For Isobel.”

“She’s not sick, Max.” 

“I know that,” Max snapped at him. “But something is wrong with her and it’s likely not a human-issue.” He turned the flyer to point at something. “Look at this symbol. It’s our symbol. What if this faith healer is like me?”

Michael paused to consider. “If she’s an alien she might know what’s going on with Isobel,” he pondered out loud.

“Exactly!” Max dropped the flyer. “It’s worth checking out, yeah?”

Michael looked at it carefully. “There are only two dates listed,” he noted. “Today and tomorrow.”

“Yeah, we’d have to leave now if we want to catch her before the end of the day. I already checked the GPS; it’ll take us just over five hours to get there.” 

Michael started to object, he and Alex finally had a date night planned, when Alex cut him off. “Go. It’s for Isobel.” Michael looked at him, but Alex just nodded encouragingly.

“What’s this?” Maria asked as she picked up the flyer. She had new bottles of beer in her hand that she set on the table absently while she read. “A faith healer?” She flipped the flyer over to check out the details on the back. “Do you all think she’s legit?”

Alex tensed next to him as he reached out a hand, “Maria-”

“If she’s legit she might be able to help my mom.” Maria didn’t wait for him to object. “When are you leaving?” She got a hard glint in her eye. “I’m coming with you.”

When they’d talked about a night out, driving to Texas with his brother and Maria DeLuca in the backseat was not what Michael had in mind. He fidgeted in his seat, his restless energy not conducive to long car rides. 

“So what’s bringing you three all the way to Texas?” Maria asked after the inane small talk ran out and the silence grew too awkward. On the one hand, Michael respected that he, Alex, and Max had things they’d like to talk about without Maria listening in but on the other hand he found it ridiculously amusing that the two guys dating Maria’s closest friends couldn’t manage a conversation with her. Amusing and sad, he mused. He’d need to work on that.

“Isobel,” Michael answered her question when Max stayed quiet. “She’s been having some trouble lately and conventional medicine isn’t helping.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Maria replied graciously after a pause. Michael knew she and Isobel didn’t get along, some old high school grudge that Isobel didn’t understand, so it was big of her to sound genuinely remorseful about Isobel being sick. “And Alex?” She craned her neck to try and see his face around the back of his seat. “Don’t you have better things to do today than tag along with us on our little fool’s errand?”

Alex smiled at her in the rearview mirror. “And miss spending the day with you? Never.”

Maria smiled back at him and it eased something in Michael to see it. He wasn’t the only relationship of Alex’s to fray in recent months. His obsessive foray into Project Shepherd had caused him to fuck up big time with Maria when he left her hanging during a big event she hosted at the Pony. Alex had promised to help her run it and then never showed. It hadn’t even occurred to him to call her and let her know, either. 

The first few days after their midnight talk a week ago had been rough. Something he’d said had registered in Alex and Alex had responded by going 180 degrees in the opposite direction. He didn’t touch his laptop for days and instead spent every minute he wasn’t at work with either Michael or one of his friends. It had been exhausting on all their parts and led to Alex snapping the other day. 

_ “What do you want from me?” Alex yelled. “You complained that I didn’t see you often enough and now you’re mad that you’re seeing too much of me? Make up your fucking mind!” _

_ “What is wrong with you?!” Michael shouted back. He’d been trying to keep his cool but he couldn’t. “Why is the idea of actually talking to the people who love you so goddamn awful to you?” _

_ “I’m doing what you want, Guerin!” Michael actually recoiled at the use of his last name. “You wanted me here and present and not working to save your life so now you’ve got me!” _

_ “I didn’t want this,” Michael told him quietly before he turned and walked out the door. He made it three steps before remembering their agreement and went back inside. “I’m going to Max’s for the night. I’ll be back in the morning and we can talk then.” He didn’t wait for Alex to argue before he was gone and in his truck. _

_ When he got to Max’s later, he drank too much and ignored his brother before finally caving and picking up his phone to call the one person he really didn’t want to. _

_ “Is Alex dying?” Charlie, Alex’s younger brother, answered the phone. Michael was pretty much at the bottom of Charlie’s shit list for a variety of reasons and the two of them never spoke voluntarily so it wasn’t an absurd reaction. Still, it grated at Michael. _

_ “When was the last time you talked to him?” _

_ “What happened?” Charlie’s voice took on a command tone and Michael bit back the urge to be a jackass. _

_ “He’s fine. He’s not hurt or anything.” _

_ Charlie let out a breath. “Then why are you calling  _ me _ ?” _

_ “When was the last time you talked to him?” He asked again. _

_ “I don’t know. It’s been a couple of weeks, I guess.” Charlie huffed. “Wait, no he called me for my birthday but that was almost three months ago. I’ve been busy so I haven’t really noticed, but yeah, it’s been a while.” And that was what Michael was worried about. Alex was usually pretty diligent about talking to his brothers every week or every other week, just to check in and touch base. With everything that had been going on, he’d hoped that had continued but clearly it hadn’t. “What’s wrong with my brother, Guerin?” _

_ “He’s got this new project,” Michael admitted. “And he’s obsessing over it. He barely sleeps, he hardly eats. I fucking live with him and I barely even see him anymore. He blew off Maria the other day, just completely bailed on something she had asked him to help her with.” _

_ “Fuck,” Charlie let out. “What the hell is so important about this project?” _

_ “I don’t know,” Michael lied. “What I do know is that I can’t talk to him. I tried and I thought we were on the same page but-” _

_ “So you called me? What, you want relationship advice?” _

_ Again, Michael bit his tongue. “No, Charlie, I want you to be a goddamn brother,” ok so maybe he needs to bite harder. “Tommy and Luke would be terrible at this and you know it,” he liked Alex’s older brothers much better but Tommy had a heavy handed way of older brother-ing and Luke didn’t have the patience to coax Alex out of his funk. Charlie on the other hand, “you’ve always been good at getting Alex out of his own head and that’s what he needs right now.” _

_ Charlie didn’t say anything. Then, “You know I’m in Alabama, right?” _

_ “Fine, forget I called,” Michael went to hang up when Charlie’s voice came through loudly. _

_ _

_ “Guerin!” _

_ “Yeah?” _

_ “Does this little project have anything to do with my dad’s last minute transfer to a training program in Niger?” Michael didn’t answer. “Jesus Christ. Okay, I’ll call him.” _

_ Michael had no idea what Charlie said or did that night but the next morning, Alex was in a better mood and they’d managed a civil conversation. Things still weren’t great but they were better.  _

Their date tonight was supposed to be another step for them on their way back to even footing but Michael was happy to sacrifice it if it meant Alex repairing his friendship with Maria just a little bit. They’d have other nights.

\---

The faith healer was a load of crap. Alex wasn’t surprised but he was disappointed on the others’ behalf. For his part, he was mostly angry that they’d had to use Michael’s hand as a pawn and for nothing.

Maria stomped back to the car in a huff and Alex was torn between staying with Michael and following her.

“Go,” Michael nudged him gently. “I’m going to make sure Max doesn’t do anything stupid.” He rolled his eyes and walked off after Max who, sure enough, looked like he was about to do something stupid.

Alex watched him go for a second, admiring the view, before he turned and trailed after Maria. He found her a few yards past the last row of cars kicking idly at the dirt and gravel, her arms wrapped around herself.

“So,” he said softly so as not to startle her, “wanna find a bar?”

Maria looked at him, her eyes already red. She didn’t say anything but she didn’t have to; Alex was already moving towards her, his arms open for her to fall into. Alex didn’t say anything. Hell, he didn’t even know what he could say. Maria had been so strong every time the topic of Mimi’s health came up that he wasn’t surprised to see her fall apart now. 

Maria clutched at his jacket and buried her face in his chest as she drew a few shaky breaths. She muttered a soft “sorry,” as she pulled away, her hands running down his chest as she tried to straighten the jacket. 

“Hey,” he ducked his head to look at her. “You don’t have to apologize for anything. I’m sorry she couldn’t help your mom.”

“Yeah,” Maria nodded as she wiped her eyes. “Me too. But, honestly, I think right now I’m more upset that I let myself believe in the possibility of it. I know most faith healers are full of crap, I  _ know _ it. But I just-”

“You just want a solution.”

She sniffed and bobbed her head a little as she wrapped herself back up. “Yeah. I did. I do. She’s my mom, Alex. She’s all I’ve got.”

“I know.” He pulled her into another hug and this time she hugged him back properly. “I’m sorry you’re going through this, Maria. And I’m sorry I’ve been a really crappy friend.”

“You’ve had your own shit going on,” Maria absolved him.

“That’s not an excuse,” he countered easily. “I should be able to deal with my shit and still be there for you when you need me.”

“Ok, fine, you win,” Maria laughed wetly. They swayed gently for a while before Maria pulled away. “You mentioned a bar?”

“Did someone say bar?” Michael’s voice surprised them both and they turned to see him standing between two cars not far away from them. “There’s one out by the road we drove in on.” He cocked his head towards Alex’s car and smiled. Alex didn’t know how long he’d been there or how much he’d heard but however much it was, Michael didn’t mention. He kept up a steady stream of inane commentary about the ceremony they’d had to watch and by the time they met Max at the car, Maria had a smile on her face. That was all that mattered.

“You good to drive?” Michael asked softly after Maria and Max were in the car. He glanced down at where Alex was leaning heavily on his cane.

“How far is it?” Alex asked rather than admitting flat out his leg was too sore. The car was modified to work for him but it still put some pressure on his leg. Michael could drive it but it was awkward and he didn’t like doing it unless it was necessary. 

Michael glanced at the road like the answer was posted there. “I don’t know, a couple of miles? It wasn’t too far.”

“I should be fine. If we have to drive later, I probably won’t be able to.” Admitting it meant that Michael had to be prepared to drive which meant he couldn’t drink. Alex worried for a second that Michael would argue or suggest something else but he just nodded and opened the driver’s side door for Alex.

“After you,” he gestured. Alex smiled and got in.

\---

Michael slipped out the door while Maria was singing. Alex was smiling and singing along with her and Maria had Max wrapped around her finger. They were fine and he needed the fresh air.

He grabbed a blanket out of the back of Alex’s car, thankful he had the keys and didn’t have to break in (modern car locks were annoyingly complex and he always managed to set off the alarm), and walked out past the edge of the parking lot. The bar was the only thing for miles around but Michael didn’t really care right now. He just wasn’t in the mood to be around a lot of people.

A quick five minute walk later, he found a spot that was relatively flat but had a lot of rocks around to block the wind. He laid the blanket down and promptly plopped himself down on top. He covered his face with his hat and closed his eyes. Within minutes, his breathing was evening out and he could feel sleep creeping on him.

He had only just started to consider heading back to the car for a second blanket when one dropped onto his stomach. Michael sat up in surprise, his hat falling on the ground next to him, as he stared at the blanket. After a moment it occurred to him that the blanket didn’t just fall out of the sky and he glanced up to see Alex’s wry smile.

“Cold?” 

“What are you doing out here?”

“Looking for you. What are you doing out here?”

Michael shrugged. “Wasn’t really in the mood for a crowded bar tonight, I guess.” Alex nodded in understanding and slowly lowered himself onto the blanket next to him. Michael unfolded the second blanket and spread it across Alex’s legs as Alex fiddled with the prosthetic. “You good?” He nodded towards his leg. 

Alex only shrugged. “It’s been a long day. It’s sore but I’ll be fine.”

Michael hummed in acknowledgement and laid back down. After a while, Alex settled next to him. There was a gap left between them that pulled at something in Michael. The worst part of it was that he was almost positive Alex didn’t do it on purpose. Leaving space was just something that came naturally to them now.

Fuck, Michael could barely remember the last time they really kissed let alone actually had sex. Weeks of only seeing each other when one of them was half-unconscious wasn’t exactly conducive to intimacy. 

“I talked to Charlie,” Alex started after a while. He kept his voice low but in the stillness of the night, he may well have been shouting. “He told me you called him.”

“Yeah, well, he hadn’t heard from you in a while.” 

“Michael.” Michael closed his eyes and breathed deeply. “I’m sorry.”

“I know you are,” Michael told him. “But that doesn’t really help us right now.”

“What do you want from me?” The question was a painful echo from their fight and Michael had to let out a breath before he could answer.

“I want you.”

Alex made a noise. “You got pissed when I tried to spend time with you.”

“I don’t- I don’t want you to drop everything to be around me every second of the day,” Michael tried to explain. “That’s not you. That’s not  _ us _ . We don’t need to be in touch 24/7 and I don’t really want us to be. We’re two different people and sometimes we need our own space but I don’t want to never see you, Alex. I wasn’t exaggerating when I said I saw more of you when you were in Iraq. At least then it felt like you actually wanted to see me.”

“Michael,” Alex choked out. He paused like he was waiting for Michael to look at him but Michael couldn’t. He kept his eyes fixed on the stars overhead. With a grunt, Alex sat up and leaned over him. “Michael,” he said again. “I always want to see you. I’m sorry if I made you feel like I don’t because I do. All of the time.” He paused and considered. “Okay, maybe not all of the time. You may have had a point when you said we need our own space sometimes.” He ran a finger along Michael’s jaw. “I’ve missed you.”

Michael closed his eyes. “Have you? Because you didn’t even realize we hadn’t seen each other for a week until I showed up in your kitchen at 2am and told you.”

Alex froze over him. “Our kitchen.”

“What?”

“You said ‘your’ kitchen. It’s  _ our _ kitchen.”

Michael nodded slowly. “Right, yeah, our kitchen.” Alex’s face made a complicated journey overtop him that Michael couldn’t hope to translate. Finally, he seemed to reach a decision because he pulled back from Michael and shifted until he was sitting up. When he was comfortable, he grabbed at Michael’s shoulder until he sat up too.

“Let’s talk,” Alex’s voice was firm and it soothed part of Michael’s wounded heart. It was the same tone of voice Alex had used when they went through that awful break seven years earlier and it was the same tone of voice he had when he cornered Michael at Isobel’s wedding and admitted that he’d been an idiot. It was the tone of voice that told Michael that shit was about to get fixed.

“I thought we were talking?”

“Yeah well, I think we’ve been talking about the wrong things.” Michael tilted his head in question. “Why did you say my kitchen?”

“It was a slip of the tongue.”

“Bullshit.” Alex countered softly. “Since day one, it has been our house, our home, so why the hell are you suddenly referring to it as if it’s mine alone?”

“Alex-”

“Talk to me, Michael,” Alex pleaded. “Please. I know the last few weeks have been rough but I need you to talk to me.”

Michael couldn’t look at him. Ten years of phone calls had ingrained in him that important conversations didn’t require eye contact and it honestly made things so much easier for him. If he wasn’t looking at Alex he could almost pretend he wasn’t baring his soul to him. “Why was it so easy for you to ignore me?”

“Michael, I wasn’t-”

“You were.”

“Ok.” Alex took a deep breath. “I wasn’t doing it intentionally. You know how I can get with projects.”

“You’ve never been like this before.”

“Your life never hung in the balance before!” 

“Alex, we don’t know that I’m in any danger. We-”

“Do you not comprehend the magnitude of Project Shepherd? Sure the government officially shut it down but my father kept it running  _ at scale _ for five more years. Where did he get the funding? He has money and connections and no fucking oversight and I don’t know who else was involved or how many other people are out there that a) know you’re an alien, b) believe you to be a threat to mankind, and c) are willing and ready to do something about it. Any day could be the day that someone decides to rid Roswell of aliens once and for all and I need to be ready for that day.” 

“I’m not worried about that Alex,” 

“I know! Which is why I need to be extra worried for all of us!” Alex huffed. “God, Michael, I have been terrified since the moment your file showed up on that computer screen and I am just trying to do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”

“At what cost?” Michael asked. “Is it worth it if I’m alive and safe but I don’t have you? Because I don’t agree with that!”

“So you’d rather I do nothing?”

“I never said that!” Michael groaned. “Fuck, I just want to see you Alex. And I want to feel like you want to see me too. I want you to go to sleep every night and eat three meals a day and fucking shower occasionally. It would be really nice if I could sit and have a conversation with you every once in a while, too. But you’re killing yourself over this Project Shepherd bullshit and you’re making me watch!”

Alex didn’t answer him for a while. “I can’t apologize for wanting to keep you safe.”

“I’m not asking you to,” Michael told him wearily. “I’m just-” He stopped with a shake of his head.

“Just what?”

“My sister is losing her mind,” he admitted, the words cutting deep in his own chest as he finally said them out loud, “and my brother is going crazy trying to help her and I don’t know what will happen if Isobel loses it for good. I honestly don’t know what that will do to Max and I just- I deal with them during the day and I go to the ca- go home and either you’re not there or you’re dead to the world and I just- I feel like everything and everyone I love is slipping away from me and there’s not a goddamn thing I can do about it and I would just really like it if one of you could just  _ stay _ .”

Alex pushed at his shoulders until he sat back enough for Alex to crawl onto his lap, his legs on either side of Michael’s hips as he cupped Michael’s jaw gently. “I’m staying. I’m not going anywhere. Not now, not ever.” He pressed their foreheads together. “We’ll figure out some way to help Isobel but god forbid that we can’t, we will keep Max sane. You and me and Liz, we will be there for Max, okay? He has us. You will not lose them both.”

“Why don’t you want a dog?” It slipped out before Michael could catch it. 

Alex pulled back to stare at him. “What?”

Fuck it. “Is it the beagle you have an issue with or just the general concept of us owning a dog?”

Alex blinked. “ _ What? _ ”

“You said Mimi-”

“No, yeah, I remember the conversation,” Alex cut him off. “I’m just very confused as to why you want to talk about a hypothetical dog right now.”

“You said you don’t want a dog,” Michael muttered.

Alex opened and closed his mouth a few times before finally deciding to just go with it. “I believe I said something along the lines of what would we do with a dog?” He tried to catch Michael’s eyes. “Michael, we both work long hours and we’ve got a lot going on right now besides our jobs, why the hell would you want to add a dog to the mix? We’re clearly not doing great at taking care of ourselves, let alone another living creature.”

Michael swallowed. “But in the future?”

“In the future,” Alex said slowly, “sure, let’s get a dog.” He paused. “What the hell is this about Michael?”

“It’s stupid.”

“It’s clearly not.”

Michael leaned forward and buried his face in Alex’s neck to avoid looking at him. Alex lifted a hand to card through the curls at the base of his skull and it soothed him enough to start talking. “We had a plan,” he started. “You would finish up your service and retire from the Air Force and then you’d come home. You’d come home and we’d get a house because the Airstream is just too goddamn small to work for us long term. So we’d get the house and we’d make sure it had a bit of land so that we had space to be outside. And then, once we were settled, we’d get a dog. Sort of add to our little family.” Michael could recite the plan in his sleep, they’d talked about it so much over the years.

He took a shuddering breath. “You came home, Alex. And we got the house and we got the land. And the first couple of months, I didn’t even think about it because we were getting settled, trying to get used to actually being in the same fucking city. But we did. We got a routine going and I was starting to think, hey maybe it’s time to talk about the dog. Because that was the next step.” He huffed softly. “When you mentioned Mimi’s reading, I thought it was the perfect opening to bring it up but you shot it down before I could. And it felt like you were shooting down the plan. Like we weren’t actually as settled as I thought we were. It felt- it felt like you were changing the script on me and I didn’t know where we stood. It wasn’t long after that that you fell down the Project Shepherd rabbit hole and I don’t know. It felt like a sign or something. Like you were trying to tell me that it wasn’t working out without actually saying the words.”

Alex tugged on his hair gently until Michael pulled back to look at him. His eyes were red but dry. “I love you,” Alex told him with the utmost sincerity. “I am not going anywhere. I will say that as many times as you need me to until you get it through that thick skull of yours.” He ran his fingers through the thick hair on top of that skull. “I wish you had mentioned the dog thing earlier but I get that I haven’t made it easy lately to talk to me. Michael, I wasn’t changing the plan or, at least, I wasn’t trying to. But we made that plan a while ago and things are different. Namely, my leg. I’m not saying we can’t have a dog but I don’t know how it would work with me needing my cane or crutches to get around sometimes. We’d need to find a dog that wouldn’t get tangled in my feet. That’s not a no, it’s just a ‘the situation is different now’ kind of thing.” He cupped Michael’s cheek and kissed his forehead lightly. “I would absolutely love to get a dog with you and grow our little family, that part hasn’t changed. It’s just that we might need to slow it down a little bit. I’d like to wait until the craziness in our lives is a bit quieter too, if possible.”

Michael had to kiss him. He’d been trying to hold back because they had a history of getting sidetracked by the kissing but he couldn’t anymore. He surged forward across the scant inches between them and captured Alex’s lips. Neither of them held back the moan that spilled between them at the first brush of their lips. It really had been too long.

“Wait,” Alex protested as he pulled back. He opened his mouth to say something but kissed Michael again instead. “Wait, no, we’re not done talking.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“How about this? You need to work less and I need to talk more and we need to set aside a bit of time every week for just us. Does that work?”

Alex stared at him with wide eyes. “Every  _ week _ ? What’s wrong with every day?”

Michael laughed. “Okay, every day. Dinner. You and me. I’ll cook.”

Alex barked out a laugh. “Yes, you will.” He kissed Michael again. “And we do one date night a week. We can make it a Friday night thing or it can change but at least one night a week, just us. We can sit at home watching TV, for all I-” 

“No,” Michael objected immediately. Alex watched too much TV as it was when he couldn’t sleep, Michael was not going to encourage more binge watching. 

“Or,” Alex continued with a smile, “we can go out and do something. Whatever we want.”

“Okay.”

“We have a deal?”

“Do you want to shake on it?”

“I have something better in mind.”


	8. Dates and Galas

“How often do you do this?” Alex asked as they got to work.

Michael shrugged and pulled out the hammer and nails. “I used to make the rounds about every other week?” He stuck a nail in his mouth and put the other one on the wood and hammered it in. “I’ve been a little busy since you moved back though so it’s gotten backed up.” The words came out garbled as he spoke around the nail.

“It’s all well and good to have your honey home, young man, but you shouldn’t go around neglecting those of us who have been here the whole time,” Mrs. Winthrop, 90 if she was a day, commented from her seat in the corner as Michael put the second nail in the wall. “That thing fell down ages ago.” Michael winked at Alex and mouthed ‘honey’ as he hung up the old photo of Mrs. Winthrop’s husband.

“There you go, ma’am,” he told her. “What’s next?” She smiled at the picture and pointed towards the kitchen. Michael followed her finger without a word. Alex moved to join him but the old woman held up a hand.

“You taking good care of him?” She peered over the rim of her glasses and pinned Alex with a stare.

“Yes, ma’am, I am,” he told her solemnly. 

“Good. He deserves it. Treat him right, you hear? Or this town might get very uncomfortable for you dear.” Alex dearly wanted to laugh but he couldn’t, the sound caught in his throat as she continued to stare at him. He swallowed and nodded. She waited another beat before relenting and smiling at him. She waved a hand towards the kitchen. “Go and help him, now. It’s a long list.”

It  _ was  _ a long list, Alex soon found out. Michael explained that he hadn’t been by in almost three months and apparently that was plenty of time for pictures to fall, the gutters to get clogged, the sink to get backed up, and several other things to go wrong around the house. Alex didn’t complain, he just rolled up his sleeves and got to work beside Michael ticking the problems off of Mrs. Winthrop’s list one by one. When they were finished, Alex was tired. Not quite exhausted, but the feeling of having accomplished a lot during a long day and ready for a nap.

He slid into Michael’s truck, content with their little date, and fully expected to head home. 

The house they pulled up to was not theirs, nor did it belong to anyone Alex knew. 

“Ah, Michael!” An older man called as he stepped out the front door. He wasn’t as old as Mrs. Winthrop but he was certainly in the senior citizen category. “Good to see you, son.”  _ Son? _

Michael bounded up the front stairs (Alex hadn’t even seen him get out of the car) and shook the man’s hand. “Afternoon, Gary, sorry I’m late.”

The man, Gary, waved him off. “It’s no trouble. I just need an extra pair of hands with some things. Shouldn’t take you too long, I’m sure you’ve got other places to be today.” He stopped and looked over Michael’s shoulder as Alex got out of the car. “Oh, you brought help! Excellent. We should be done in no time.” 

Alex didn’t have time for questions before Gary put them to work. Apparently his son had just bought a new house and so Gary was graciously donating a lot of his old furniture so his son didn’t have to spend the money to furnish the whole house. Personally, Alex thought it would have been worth it to spend the money and not hold on to these old things but it wasn’t his place to comment so he kept his mouth shut and helped Michael and Gary move furniture from the various rooms into the garage where they made a neat pile for his son to pick up. All told, it took less than half an hour. Gary had Michael do one more thing for him and then they were out of there. 

“Where to next?” Alex asked as they got back in the car. It was becoming increasingly obvious that what he had thought was going to be an early date was in reality an all day affair. Michael just grinned at him across the bench seat and pulled away.

There were three more houses that needed furniture moved, one of whom was Mrs. Winters and Alex was convinced she only called Michael over to watch him lift heavy objects in front of her, before they pulled up outside a rundown house with a lot of kids toys out front. 

Before they even parked the car, three kids were running out the door yelling Michael’s name. Michael laughed and picked two of them up as soon as his feet hit the ground.

“Lucy! Rodrigo! Emma!” A woman’s exasperated voice came from the house. A moment later a woman appeared in the doorway. She took one look at the truck, Michael unseen on the other side of it, and sagged in obvious relief. 

Alex got out of the car as gracefully as he could and ambled up the small lawn. “Hello,” he greeted politely.

“You Alex?” The woman eyed him.

“I am,” he admitted slowly, an eyebrow raised in surprise.

“Huh, so you finally came home. Good for you.” She tsked and jutted her chin towards the truck. “Nah, good for  _ him _ . He missed you all those years you were gone.”

Alex turned in time to see Michael scoop up all three kids and start lumbering towards them. He had a bright smile on his face that Alex wasn’t sure he’d ever seen before. 

“Where you been hiding, Michael Guerin?” The woman asked. Her voice was gruff but when Alex turned back to her he saw her hiding a smile.

Michael obviously knew better than to take her tone seriously as he bent down to kiss her cheek, carefully avoiding smacking her with any of the kids. “Hello to you too, Carolyn. Always a pleasure to see your smiling face.”

Carolyn scowled. “You taking them?”

“If you don’t mind?” Michael replied a bit sheepishly. “I know I should have called but I was expecting to be at Mr. Morton’s today and he just called to let me know his kids were coming by to help him out so I had some free time.”

“So you decide to come kidnap my kids instead?” Carolyn put her hands on her hips.

“Please!” One of the girls wriggled out of Michael’s grasp and pleaded with Carolyn.

“Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease,” the little boy chanted.

The third kid, the other little girl, just tucked her head into Michael’s neck now that she had the room. She did not look like she was planning on moving any time soon; Alex could relate.

Carolyn kept up the scowl for a moment longer before she let out an exaggerated breath. “Ok fine. You can go with Michael.” All three kids cheered loudly. The one girl already on her feet took off into the house while the other two scrambled out of Michael’s arms and followed. The three adults couldn’t help but laugh at their antics. “You going by Donna’s too?” Michael nodded. “She lost Maya but got Adam and a kid called Dick.” 

“Actual name or?

“His name is Richard but he goes by Dick. Honestly.”

“Brave kid,” Michael chuckled. “I’ll pick them up.”

“You feeding them or-”

Michael shook his head. “I can’t tonight. We’ll bring them all back by 6:30, though.”

“Alright,” Carolyn nodded. She stepped forward and kissed Michael’s cheek. “Thank you,” she told him sincerely as the kids came tearing back out of the house, all of them changed into decidedly more ratty clothing. They beelined for the truck and scrambled up into the back, Michael already there with them to help them get secured. 

“First time with them?” Carolyn asked Alex. Alex just nodded, still not sure what the fuck was going on. She laughed and patted him on the shoulder. “Good luck.” 

Alex bade her farewell and walked back to the truck. “So,” he drawled as Michael hopped in beside him. “When are you planning on telling me what’s going on?”

Michael grinned and kissed him. “Ew! That’s gross!” came from the back and Michael broke away laughing. 

“You like surprises,”

“I hate surprises,” Alex countered.

Michael kissed him again. “It’s a fun surprise, I promise.”

“See when you say fun surprise, all I think about is something that children should absolutely not be present for and yet I noticed that there are three kids in our car and I understand that we’re on our way to pick up even more?” Michael smirked and kissed him yet again.

“I’ll explain when we get there. I promise.”

Alex grumbled lightly some more as Michael drove to the next house. There, Alex didn’t even get a chance to get out of the car before four more kids were hopping in the back. A couple stood on the lawn waving them off, a pair of exhausted expressions on their faces. From there, Michael drove slowly, well under the speed limit, and stuck to back roads with little traffic. The kids stayed put in the carefully constructed seats Michael had arranged and entertained themselves as the truck rumbled along. Obviously this was not a new occurrence for them.

If you had asked Alex earlier where he thought they were going, he wouldn’t have been able to provide a good guess but if he’d tried, Sanders would not have made the list. Michael bypassed the Airstream and skirted the work stations as he drove around to a little used section of the property. As soon as the truck came to a stop, the kids were up and running off.

“Uh, should we-”

“Nah, they know what they’re doing,” Michael told him. He got out and walked around to open Alex’s door. Alex took the hand offered and stepped slowly down from the cab. He didn’t normally have much trouble with cars but he’d been getting in and out of the truck a lot today and his leg was getting sore. 

Happy squeals drew his attention over Michael’s shoulders where the kids had located a series of paint cans and various tools. “Uh, Michael-”

Michael turned and shrugged. Without a word, he tugged Alex after him to the back of the truck where he pulled the liftgate down and sat on it. Alex eyed the kids warily as he sat down next to him.

“Ok. Answers.”

Michael laughed and ducked his head. “They’re all from the same orphanage that picked up Max, Isobel, and I when we were kids. Carolyn and Donna are foster moms who help out the center when they’re overcrowded.” He shrugged. “Whenever I can, I try to get a few of the kids, either from Carolyn and Donna or from the orphanage, and take them out for a few hours. It gives them something to do and it gives the women a bit of a break. Especially during the summer when school’s out.”

Alex’s heart swelled. Michael had mentioned going over to the orphanage a couple of times throughout the years but he’d never dwelled on it and Alex hadn’t pressed. He’d thought it was a sore subject not...this. He looked at the kids, several of them already covered in paint but all of them smiling and laughing. “And this?”

Michael rubbed the back of his neck. “The stuff back here is mostly what can’t be sold or reused so it’s pretty much just junk. I take out anything sharp or that can be used as a weapon but otherwise, the kids can pretty much do whatever they want here. I keep paint cans stored over there,” he nodded towards a shed with its door hanging ajar, “after Maya, she’s not here, asked for it a few years back. Turns out giving kids cans of paint and free reign to do their worst is pretty fun. For them and me.” He laughed.

Alex kissed him. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” He furrowed his brow. “Because I let kids fuck shit up with paint?”

“No,” he chuckled lightly. “Because you’re you. Jesus, Michael, we spent the morning helping out people I’ve never met before doing odd jobs around their houses and now you’re voluntarily babysitting  _ seven _ kids. And you act like it’s no big deal.”

Michael shrugged. “It’s not. It’s just something I do.”

“Mm,” Alex hummed in mock agreement. “And how often do you do this?” 

“I don’t know. Whenever I get a full day free? Some people can’t afford to call a handyman or a plumber or whatever for every little thing so they leave a message with Sanders and I go over when I can to take care of the small stuff for them. It’s not a big deal, I’ve been doing it for years.”

He genuinely looked bothered that Alex might consider it a big deal so Alex let it drop. “So why do this for our first date night?”

“Do you not like it? We can do something else later,” Michael offered immediately.

“Hey, no, I didn’t say that,” Alex grabbed his hand. “I just wanted to know what you were thinking. You’ve never really talked about this stuff before so why bring me along now?”

Michael twined their fingers together and shrugged. “I had a lot of people asking me to come by but I wanted to spend time with you so I thought why not combine the two?”

“And later?”

“Hm?”

“You told Carolyn we couldn’t get dinner for the kids because we had plans?”

“Oh, that, well I wasn’t sure if you wanted to go to the UFO Emporium Grand Re-Opening tonight. I thought I’d leave the night free in case you did.”

“Do you?”

“Not particularly. Today’s supposed to be for us and I don’t really feel like sharing you.”

Alex leaned over and kissed him. Michael wrapped an arm around his waist and cupped his jaw as Alex slid his fingers into his hair and deepened the kiss.

“I take it you want to go to the gala?” Michael asked when they separated.

Alex laughed. “Yes. Let’s go to the gala so we can go be surrounded by fucking everyone all night long.”

“On second thought,” Michael whispered as he kissed him again.

“Really?” A young voice yelled loudly. “You’re just gonna corrupt young, impressionable minds like that?” 

Alex groaned when Michael pulled away. “Piss off, punk,” Michael yelled with a laugh. Alex opened his eyes and turned just as something wet hit him in the face. 

He froze. The kid with the wet paintbrush flung forward froze. The kids behind that kid froze.

Michael? Michael fell off the back of the truck laughing at the sight of Alex’s face and hair covered in bright blue paint.

Alex stared at Michael’s writhing form for half a second before coming to a decision. He slipped off the liftgate and stalked toward the kid. “Got any orange?” A girl behind him held up her tube of orange paint. Alex smiled wickedly; it was Michael’s least favorite color. “Thank you,” he said calmly as he squirted out a dollop into his palm and handed it back to her. 

He turned and walked back to Michael, rubbing his hands together as he did until both of his palms and all of his fingers were covered in the orange paint. “Hey, Cowboy?” He asked sweetly as he crouched down.

“Yeah?” Michael tried to sit up.

Alex put his hands on Michael’s face, making sure to touch as much skin as possible and kissed him quickly. “Tag,” he whispered as he slapped Michael’s chest and left another handprint dead center, “you’re it.” 

The kids caught on quick, he’ll give them that. He’d barely turned around before they were taking off in different directions. Alex got into the cab of the truck before Michael was on his feet and he locked the doors.

“Really, Manes?” Michael asked as he checked his reflection in a side mirror. Alex personally thought the double orange handprints were quite fetching. “That’s how you want to play it?”

Alex shrugged.

Michael only laughed before grabbing the can of blue paint and taking off after one of the kids. A few minutes later, one of them came back sporting a bright blue handprint on his back. He grabbed the red paint and disappeared. 

An hour later, Michael and Alex corralled the kids back into the truck, all of them sporting handprints of various colors. The only thing in sight that was untouched by paint was the truck and that quickly changed as the kids clambered into it, any paint that was still wet transferring easily from their clothes to the truck.

Carolyn and Donna both gave them dirty looks when they returned the kids but they also set up another time for Michael and Alex to take them so he didn’t think it was too much of a problem. 

“What next?” Alex asked after the last kid was safely in her house.

“Up to you, darlin’.”

Alex let his head loll to the side to look at Michael. “Let’s go home.”

\---

“Liz!” Maria called across the room as she hurried over to where Liz and her father had just entered the room. Arturo kissed her on the cheek in greeting and quickly excused himself from the two friends. “Holy crap, woman, you look amazing!” Maria held Liz at arm’s length to take in her dress.

“Me? What about you!?” Liz returned. “You are literally sparkling like a star right now and I love it!”

Maria smiled. “Thank you!” She looked around. “Where’s that boyfriend of yours?”

“He’s coming a bit later,” Liz told her. “He got off work half an hour ago so he had to run home to change.”

“He should’ve just come in his uniform.”

“Hey, I tried to tell him but he just wouldn’t listen,” Liz shook her head sadly before laughing.

“Well don’t you two look beautiful this evening?” Kyle walked up next to them, a glass of champagne already in his hand.

“You don’t clean up half bad yourself,” Maria told him.

Kyle looked down at his suit like he was surprised to see it. “This old thing?” He shrugged. “I just pulled it out of my closet.”

“Riiight,” Liz laughed. “Well you look very snazzy.”

“Only time I’m ever going to need a good suit in this town, figured I should go all out,” he admitted somewhat sheepishly. “I can see I wasn’t the only one who thought that way.” He gestured to Liz and Maria’s dresses. The two women exchanged looks and shrugged.

“It’s always nice to have an excuse to dress up,” Liz shrugged. 

“That it is. That it is,” Kyle agreed. “Hey, have either of you heard from Alex? I had something I wanted to talk to him about, but he never got back to me about whether or not he was coming tonight.”

“Since when are you friends with Alex?” Maria asked.

Kyle shrugged. “We talk. We bond.”

“You bond?” Maria raised her eyebrows.

“What, men can’t bond?” Kyle put a hand in the middle of his chest like Maria had just offended him on a personal level. 

Liz rolled her eyes at them. “I haven’t talked to Alex in a couple of days. Maria?”

She shook her head. “Last time I talked to him was when we got back from Texas and he didn’t really seem like he was in the party mood.”

Kyle hummed thoughtfully. “Oh, hey, Isobel,” he called suddenly, startling Liz and Maria.

The blonde woman in question was just passing them when Kyle called her name and she turned to stare at him disdainfully. “Can I help you?”

“Is Alex coming tonight?” Kyle asked, unbothered by her attitude.

“I’m not his personal assistant,” Isobel retorted. Next to her, Noah pulled out his phone when it chimed.

“That’s Michael. He and Alex aren’t going to make it tonight,” he told the group. Isobel rolled her eyes.

“Figures,” she muttered. “I don’t know why I expected Alex to keep him in line.” She walked off still muttering under her breath, Noah trailing after her, before Kyle could ask anything else.

“Okay,” Maria said loudly. She winced and lowered her voice. “What the hell is going on with Alex and Guerin?”

“They’re dating?” Liz replied, unsure of their status herself.

“Okay, sure, I got that part,” Maria agreed easily. “But I mean, when did it start? How long have they been together? How serious is it? Because if they’ve only been together since Alex got back then they’re moving pretty fast…”

Kyle and Liz both shook their heads. “No, they were together before then.” 

“How do you know?” Maria asked. Kyle and Liz exchanged a look, unsure how to explain it without admitting everything. Truthfully, Liz knew they’d been a thing for a while because there was no other reason for Michael to trust Alex with the big family secret otherwise. Kyle, well, Kyle had been in their home. He knew this wasn’t a recent fling. 

“Have you been to the cabin?” He asked. Their pictures were out in plain sight and Alex hadn’t made any effort to hide them so Kyle assumed they were safe to talk about. Maria and Liz both shook their heads. “Oh well, they’re living together out there and they have some pictures of the two of them from the past couple of years so I figure it’s been going on a while though.”

“I’ve never heard either of them mention seeing anyone, though,” Maria wondered out loud. “And for a couple of years, Guerin spent most nights at the Wild Pony. And the man’s a flirt, okay? He never struck me a serious commitment kind of guy. Not like Alex is.”

“I don’t know how serious it is,” Kyle shrugged. 

“But they’re living together?” Maria asked.

“I thought Michael had that old Airstream at Sanders’?” Liz questioned.

“Does he?” Kyle shrugged again. “I don’t know. It’s not like either guy is super forthcoming with personal information, okay? I just know what I saw when I was at the cabin with Alex. And it looked like both of them were living there. Plus at least one of the pictures was from Alex’s second deployment which was a while ago, right?”

Maria nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, like five years ago now.”

“There you go, they’ve been together for at least five years, then.”

“But the whole time?” Liz wondered. “Has Alex ever come back to Roswell? I thought he came home for the first time a few months ago?”

“No,” Maria shook her head. “Alex came home a few times. More so the first couple of years. Maybe they hooked up on a visit home?” She lifted a shoulder in question.

“And stayed in touch? That doesn’t sound like Alex.” Kyle was skeptical.

“Oh right sorry, I forgot you’re an expert in all things Alex Manes,” Maria teased.

“Oh my god.” The three of them turned at the new voice. Jenna Cameron stood next to them, a mostly empty glass of champagne in her hand. “You’re all idiots.”

“Excuse me?” Liz asked. 

“You’re talking about Michael Guerin and Alex Manes?” She barely waited for them to nod before she continued. “Those two are practically married. If they’ve been together less than ten years, I’d be shocked.”

They all chuckled lightly. “We’ve only been out of high school ten years,” Kyle reminded her.

She arched a perfect eyebrow. “So?”

“They’re not high school sweethearts,” Liz explained.

“Right,” Jenna nodded slowly before rolling her eyes. “Evans!” She called over Kyle’s shoulder. They all turned to see Max walking in, a hand smoothing down the front of his suit. He paused when Jenna called his name but he recovered quickly and joined their little group.

“Hi,” he kissed Liz softly. “You look amazing.”

“Thank you,” she whispered back. “You look good in that suit.”

They exchanged soft smiles while the other three looked away. “What?” Isobel asked as she stepped up to them on Maria’s other side. Everyone looked at her, confused. “You yelled Evans?” Jenna waved a hand at Max. “Oh. Well then, nevermind.” She turned to leave but Jenna grabbed her arm. 

“Wait, you can help too.”

“Help?” Isobel scoffed, then paused. “With what?” Noah came up next to her and the group shifted to let them into the circle. 

“How long have Alex and Michael been together?” Maria asked.

“Uh, you mean like what’s their anniversary?” Max looked between them. “How should we know?”

Jenna rolled her eyes. “Ballpark it for us.”

“High school,” Isobel answered. “They got together right before graduation, why?”

Maria, Liz, and Kyle all stared at her, their mouths agape, while Jenna crowed smugly. “Told you. Idiots,” she shook her head at them and exchanged her glass for a fresh one from a passing waiter.

“How did you know?” Liz demanded.

“Uh, I spent five seconds with them?” 

Maria ignored her and turned to Max. “They’ve been together this whole time?”

Max looked at the three of them and nodded. “I mean they had a couple breaks but they didn’t last very long.”

“Did you all not know this?” Noah asked them, looking between them and sounding like he was torn between laughing and being concerned.

Maria, Liz, and Kyle all shook their heads. “They’re not exactly over sharers,” Liz defended herself. “Sure, it’s obvious that they’re together but I never would’ve imagined they’d been together for ten years.”

Max chuckled and half shrugged, half nodded. “Yeah, I can understand that.”

Something in his tone struck a chord in Jenna. She narrowed her eyes. “When did you find out about them?”

Isobel started cackling as Max flushed. “He walked in on Michael giving Alex a blowjob when we were 19.”

Max flushed deeper. “They should’ve locked the damn door.”

Isobel gave him a look. “You should’ve knocked.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Max muttered like it was something he’d heard many times before.

“What about you?” Kyle asked Isobel. “How’d you find out about them?”

She shrugged. “A sister always knows.” She sipped her champagne delicately before Noah snorted. “She stole one of Michael’s shirts and later found out it was Alex’s.”

“Noah,” she hissed as the others laughed.

“When was this?” Liz asked curiously. Isobel rolled her eyes.

“Right after Alex went to Basic. Michael had one of Alex’s stupid band shirts in his truck and I stole it. He about flipped his shit when he found out I had it, too.”

“Well at least they’re consistently bad about telling people,” Maria mused.

“You say that like it’s a go-” Isobel stopped mid word and stared off into the distance.

“Isobel?” Noah grabbed her arm gently. Liz stepped back as the other three humans stepped forward only to be stopped by Max’s outstretched arm. “Izzy? Baby?”

Isobel’s mouth opened and closed several times, her eyebrows furrowing like she was working out a difficult problem. 

“Iz?” Max asked softly. He exchanged a look with Noah when she remained unresponsive. By now they were old hats at dealing with her episodes, it was just strange how quickly this one came on. Usually there was a bit of a grace period where she would slowly get quieter and calmer before attempting to speak.

Noah took the champagne from her hand before she could drop it and Max stepped forward to grip her elbow. 

“Manes,” Isobel gasped out just as they started to guide her somewhere more private. They all froze.

“Iz?” Max asked.

“Manes,” she gasped out again, her mouth moving like she was trying to say more but nothing else came out. “C-c-c” Her face pinched in visible frustration. “Manes,” she said a third time. “C-c-c-call-,” she choked on the word. 

And then she was fine.

“Woah, Max, what are you-?” She took quick stock of herself. “Fuck. Again?”

“Last thing?” Noah asked calmly. 

She shook her head. “We were talking about Michael and Alex. About when we found out about them.” Max and Noah both let out a breath.

“Only a minute or two, then.” 

“Wait, really?” Isobel’s eyes widened. “That’s it?”

“You said Manes,” Liz told her. “You said call and Manes. Do you remember that?”

Isobel shook her head slowly. “Why would I say call Manes? Because we were talking about Alex?”

“I don’t know,” Max told her softly.

“What the fuck, Max?” Isobel asked rhetorically. Max could only shrug.

“I’ll call Alex.” Noah pulled out his phone but Isobel and Max both put out a hand to stop him.

“No, don’t. They’re doing date night and they really need it. We can call them tomorrow,” Isobel told him. “Let’s just. Fuck, let’s just have fun and enjoy this party I spent weeks planning, okay? Let me not feel like a freak for the rest of the evening.”

Noah nodded reluctantly and let Isobel drag him back into the crowd. Liz saw the worried expression on Max’s face and asked him to dance with her to take his mind off of it. 

That left Kyle, Jenna, and Maria in a loose semicircle, staring after the two couples.

“What the fuck just happened?” Maria asked after a beat. Jenna and Kyle exchanged looks and silently agreed that it wasn’t their place nor their problem.

“Ask Evans,” Jenna advised as she disappeared into the crowd.

“Kyle?” Maria demanded. He just shrugged apologetically and reiterated that she should ask Max before he too left.

“What the fuck?” Maria wondered aloud to herself before deciding that the night needed more alcohol. 


	9. Caulfield

It was way too early for the amount of banging on the front door. Distantly, Michael recognized that it had to be something important for anyone to be all the way out here at this time of day but the majority of him just really wanted whoever it was to go the fuck away.

“We should get that,” Alex mumbled even as he burrowed himself closer to Michael. He had his right leg tucked between Michael’s, his arm flung across his chest, and his face deep in Michael’s neck and neither one of them wanted him to move a muscle.

“Michael!” Isobel yelled. “Wake up!” She banged harder. 

“I don’t think she’s going away,” Alex remarked idly as he rolled over onto his back. Michael mourned the contact even as he appreciated the view. The sheet had barely covered Alex’s ass when he was on top of Michael; the shift made it slip even lower. “Cowboy?”

“Hm?” Michael licked his lips.

“Go talk to your sister.”

Michael’s face twisted in a grimace as he finally got out of bed. He was almost out the door before, “put some damn pants on, she doesn’t want to see that.” 

He rolled his eyes but grabbed a pair of old sweat pants, which may have been Alex’s, out of the dresser and slipped them on even as he walked to the front door. “Door!” Alex called from the bed and Michael slammed their bedroom door shut so no one got an accidental peek.

“What?” Michael barked as he finally swung the front door wide. “Oh shit. What happened?” Isobel, he’d expected. Seeing Max, Noah, Liz, Kyle, and Jenna standing behind her, he did not. He took a step back and they trudged in without comment.

“I’m gonna-” he thumbed over his shoulder at the hallway. “Help yourselves to the kitchen.”

“What does she want?” Alex asked as he stepped back into the bedroom and shut the door behind him. Alex hadn’t moved since he left and Michael let himself be tempted by the view for just a moment.

“Don’t know yet.” He shrugged as he blinked and looked away. “But it’s not just Isobel. Everyone’s here.”

Alex sat up. “Everyone?”

Michael hummed and grabbed some clothes for Alex and tossed them on the bed. “I don’t think we’re getting our morning back.”

“Mikey! Where’s the coffee?” Liz sounded as tired and grumpy as Michael felt. 

“Cabinet over the-” he started to yell when Alex cut him off with, “just go show her.” Michael rolled his eyes and brushed a kiss on his lips before leaving to attend to their unexpected guests.

When everyone had a beverage and Alex joined them, Isobel got down to business. “I had another episode last night.”

Neither Michael or Alex said anything. At this point, Isobel’s episodes were common enough that none of them got overly anxious about them. The fact that they were occurring was worrisome enough but she never hurt anyone while she had them so all in all, they could be worse.

“I said something,” Isobel said slowly. “Like, it wasn’t me that was saying it.”

That got Michael’s attention. He put his coffee on the table and leaned forward. “Like you carried on a conversation or-”

Isobel shrugged and gestured to Max and Noah to continue. “It was different. We’ve talked to her during episodes before and didn’t realize it wasn’t quite her but this- it was like someone was trying to talk through her.”

“The person sharing your head?” Alex asked calmly. 

“I don’t know, probably,” Isobel leaned forward and put her arms on her knees. “As insane as it is to hear that I said something I didn’t actually say,” her eyebrows pinched as she realized how crazy her words sounded but she continued, “it’s actually a bit of a relief to know that there might actually be someone in my head. That’s it not my own brain fucking up.” Noah took her hand and squeezed it.

“What did she- or-” Michael cut himself off with a shake of the head. “What exactly was said?”

“Call Manes,” Max told him.

Alex stiffened next to him. “What?”

“That’s not exactly true,” Liz spoke up. “She said Manes sort of right off the bat. And then it looked like she was trying to say something else but she just said Manes again.”

“And a third time,” Kyle chimed in. Liz acknowledged him with a nod.

“Right and then she said Call. So it wasn’t ‘call Manes’ so much as it was Manes and call.” She trailed off. “If that makes a difference.”

Michael looked at everyone’s faces before turning to Alex. He looked so confused it was almost comical if the situation wasn’t his sister’s health. “Alex?”

He turned to Michael. “What the hell would I know about an alien-” He stopped and turned back to the group with a sharp twist of his head. “Call and Manes. That was it?”

They nodded. “Alex?” Michael asked softly.

“Was it call like call you on the phone or could it have been the start of a longer word?” He pushed himself to his feet, shoving his coffee mug at Michael as he staggered towards the hallway and disappeared. “Well?” he called over his shoulder when no one answered.

“I- I suppose it could have been the start of a longer word. She looked like she was trying to say more but could barely get those two words out,” Max stood up as he talked, Alex’s reaction clearly making him antsy.

Alex appeared with his laptop in hand and Michael couldn’t help but glare at it. Alex saw and looked at him with a slight apology in his eyes but didn’t hesitate for a second as he sat back down and opened the computer. 

“Alex?” Noah asked. “What is it?”

“I’m not the only Manes,” he commented absently as his directed his full attention to his files. Michael recognized the Project Shepherd files on the screen. “You said call- but like it could be the start of a word.” No one really answered him as they watched him work. After a minute or two, Alex looked up and spun the laptop around. “Could it be Caulfield?” On the screen was a photo of a set of blueprints, the label on the top right that Alex had blown up said Caulfield Prison in capital letters.

“What the hell is Caulfield Prison?”

“Could Isobel have been trying to say Caulfield?” Alex insisted. Everyone but Isobel exchanged looks and sort of shrugged. Alex apparently deemed it sufficient enough and turned the computer back around.

“What is Caulfield?” Kyle asked. “The name sounds familiar.”

“It’s an abandoned prison about two and a half hours north of here,” Alex answered as he typed something. “Your dad used to work there with your grandfather.”

Kyle deflated where he stood behind the couch. “So my family was definitely a part of Project Shepherd.”

Michael raised an eyebrow. “You still had doubts?” His eyes flicked to the coffee table and the bunker hidden beneath it.

“No. Yes. I don’t know. Maybe?” Kyle shrugged. “I didn’t want to accept that my family legacy includes a mission to eradicate an entire species unless I had proof, I guess.”

That was fair. 

“Okay,” Alex started. “Looks like the prison was shut down in 1978 but I’ve run overhead satellite imaging the past few weeks and it shows vehicles coming and going at regular intervals as well as strange heat signatures.”

“Strange heat signatures?” Max asked, his voice tense.

“Yeah, you all run hot,” Alex was still focused on his screen so he likely didn’t see how Max and Isobel reacted but he couldn’t miss the way Michael tensed beside him. He looked up and over at him.

“Are you saying there are aliens at Caulfield?” Michael asked.

“I don’t know,” Alex answered him honestly. “There are no records in any of these files about what Caulfield is used for but it is mentioned multiple times as a crucial site.” He glanced at Max and Isobel before focusing on Michael. “I’ve never actually tried to read your heat signature but I can tell you you are absolutely hotter than any human.” Alex didn’t actually wink but Michael felt it all the same. “And yes, the heat signatures I’m seeing on this imaging is what I would assume you three would look like if I scanned you but I don’t want to say for sure that there are aliens there. Not until we can verify.”

“Then let’s go.” Max was tense, his body primed for action, any action. Alex didn’t say anything, didn’t even move. “Alex, if there are aliens there, we can’t just leave them.”

“I agree,” Alex said slowly. “But we can’t just storm the place, either. It’s a military installation now, official or otherwise. There will likely be security measures in place and any number of military personnel who are likely to be armed and prepared to use deadly force.”

“So what do you suggest?” Noah asked before Max could say anything.

“I’ll go in-”

“No,” Michael objected immediately. Alex just looked at him until he relented. “I’m coming with you.”

“Michael-”

“You go, I go.”

“Fine.”

“And the rest of us?” Max huffed. “You want us to sit around and twiddle our thumbs?”

“Yes.” Alex closed the laptop and stood up. “I don’t want to take Michael with me but I’m not stupid enough to go alone and Michael has the most useful offensive power,” and ok Michael could see the logic in that but it still cut to hear Alex say he didn’t want Michael with him, “the rest of you will need to wait before we have more information to make a plan.”

“I’m coming with you,” Jenna announced quietly. Alex opened his mouth but she cut him off. “Alien powers are all well and good but if it turns bad you  _ will _ be outnumbered and you need someone else with you who can handle themselves in that kind of situation.” Max stepped forward, his mouth already open to volunteer himself again. “By that kind of situation, I mean a combat situation with trained soldiers,” Jenna cut him off with a glare. “Not you, Evans.”

“Thank you, Jenna.” was all Alex said once Max backed down. She just nodded. “Okay, everyone else should go home. We’ll be in touch once we get back with more information and we can make a plan to move forward.”

Max looked like he wanted to object again but Liz stood up and whispered something to him. They had a brief staring contest before Max huffed and left without a word. “Sorry,” Liz apologized for him. “Be safe and call us when you get back?”

“We will,” Michael promised. She nodded and hurried after Max.

Isobel came over and hugged Michael tightly. “Don’t do anything stupid, okay? If bullets start flying, remember your boyfriend’s the hero, not you, okay?” Like hell was Michael going to leave Alex if the situation turned dangerous but he didn’t bother telling Isobel that. He just nodded and let her squeeze him tighter. Eventually she let go and let Noah guide her out to the car.

“You might need a doctor…” Kyle offered as he stood up.

“Keep your phone on you,” Jenna told him. Kyle looked at Alex and Michael but they didn’t contradict her so he nodded and left without a word.

“And then there were three,” Jenna drawled. 

\---

“So what exactly is the plan?” Michael asked as they walked in the front door. So far, they hadn’t seen any security. Hell, they hadn’t seen another sign of life in the past hour. He stood in the middle of their little line, Alex in front of him and Jenna behind. Both of them had weapons in their hands while Michael just had his brain; he’d never felt so inadequate even though his powers might prove more useful than a gun before the day ended.

Alex held a small sensor in his free hand and was scanning the hallway in front of them. “We search the facility,” he answered. “Ideally, we locate the command center and download any and all files on their system and then we shut it down if possible.”

“Right,” Michael said slowly. They’d gone over it in the car but the silence was getting to him and it was the only thing he could think to talk about. He opened his mouth to say something else when, “please shut up,” Jenna said softly. 

He started to get offended when she continued, “the more you talk, the less we can hear. If someone else is here, we need to be able to hear them coming.”

Michael nodded once and they continued.

“You’re up, Cowboy,” Alex told him as they came to a locked gate. Michael stared at it, trying to remember the schematics Alex had showed him in the car. The prison used four different types of locks and Michael had no idea which one this was so he had to try three different methods of twisting the tumblers until the lock clicked and the gate swung open. They got only a few steps past before Alex stopped. “Someone’s coming.”

Michael stepped up behind him and looked over his shoulder in time to catch a glimpse of the screen before Alex dropped it into his bag. “Jenna,” he said and it was clearly some kind of cue because Jenna grabbed Michael’s shoulder and dragged him with her as she left the room without a word.

“Wait, Alex-”

“He’ll be fine,” Jenna assured him as they ducked into a small alcove not too far down the hallway. Jenna pressed him into the wall with a firm hand in his chest as she kept a wary eye on the doorway they’d just come through. If it weren’t for her standing bodily in front of him, Michael might have pushed past her and gone back for Alex. As it was, he couldn’t move without possibly hurting her and, though the wait was agonizing, he wasn’t willing to do that.

Logically, Michael recognized that barely a minute passed before Alex reappeared but it felt like forever. When Jenna’s hand dropped and she stepped back, Michael stepped forward eagerly to see Alex but stopped at the man walking behind him.

“Tommy?”

\---

Alex watched Jenna drag Michael away with a pang but he ignored it as he stuffed his sensor in his bag and put it back on his back, tightening the straps so that it was secure. He double checked his weapon to make sure it was functional, safety off, before he slid it into his hip holster. The goal here was not violence and he wouldn’t be the one to fire the first shot. 

He stepped silently over to the opposite wall and pressed his back against it. In this position, the person coming should be a step or two inside the room before they noticed Alex. Sure enough, a moment later, a soldier in fatigues stepped over the threshold on silent feet, gun held steady in outstretched hands.

In a smooth move, Alex neatly disarmed the man and held the gun out to the side. He kept his finger off the trigger as the man turned to him and he froze.

“Tommy? What are you doing here?” For some reason, Alex had been under the impression that his father kept all of his sons out of Project Shepherd, but staring at his oldest brother made him realize that that wasn’t the case. 

“Me? What the fuck are you doing here, Alex?” Tommy hissed. “Do you have any idea how stupid it is for you to be here? If Dad finds out-”

“Dad’s in Niger,” Alex told him.

“For now. He won’t stay there forever,” Tommy cautioned him. “The more you know, the bigger a threat you are to him, Alex.”

“What do you know, Tommy?”

Tommy started to answer when Alex remembered where they were. He held up a hand to stop Tommy and neatly sidestepped him until he could follow Jenna and Michael.

A few feet down the hallway, Jenna stepped out of a small alcove, Michael following a step behind her. Alex’s heart clenched as he took in the look of relief on Michael’s face followed by the confusion and betrayal when he saw Tommy.

“Tommy?” Michael asked.

Tommy looked at Alex. “Are you seriously this stupid? You brought Michael  _ here _ ?”

“What the hell is going on?” Michael demanded.

“What’s going on is I’ve been stuck here for two years trying to keep you two out of this shitfest only for you to come swanning in like you don’t have a goddamn care in the world.” Tommy shook his head and pushed past Jenna muttering under his breath about idiot little brothers. “Come on!” 

Jenna looked to Alex but Alex just shrugged so she turned and followed, Michael and Alex trailing behind her.

They walked for a few minutes through the maze of hallways before Tommy held up a hand for them to wait as he stepped into a secure room. Alex ignored the fear clenching in his gut as the door shut behind his brother. Tommy and him had never been close, per se, an unfortunate byproduct of the age gap between them, but Alex had always thought ultimately, his brothers were all on his side. Finding out that at least one of them had been helping his father with Project Shepherd and clearly knew about Michael was causing him to reconsider everything he thought he knew about his family.

A speaker at the end of the hall crackled to life. “Attention. This is Major Manes. The facility will be shutting down in fifteen minutes. All non-essential personnel needs to evacuate the premises immediately. Essential personnel should conclude their work for the day and evacuate at the earliest possible opportunity.” 

It was three minutes before the door opened and Tommy poked his head out. “Well?” He ushered them inside.

“Tommy,” Alex started once they were all in the room. “What is going on?”

“What do you know?” Tommy asked. “About Project Shepherd?”

“Everything that was on Dad’s files in the old command center under Walker,” Alex admitted.

Tommy nodded. “And what brought you here?”

“There were multiple records of Caulfield Prison in the files.”

“So you don’t actually know what’s here.”

Alex paused. “I could make an educated guess.”

Tommy sighed and leaned against a desk. “So why bring Michael?”

“How long have you known about Michael?” Alex countered.

“Dad fully read me in seven years ago,” Tommy admitted after a pause. “I didn’t believe him at first. I figured he was just using this crazy mission to try and scapegoat Michael because of you two but then he set up surveillance around the Airstream.” Michael cursed and Tommy laughed. “Yeah, I’d apologize but I think you’ve scarred all of us for life.”

Alex absolutely did not flush. “When you say around the Airstream…”

“Not inside but pretty much surrounding the exterior, especially when it was parked at Foster Ranch. And yes, I did in fact get an email with a video file attached every time you visited him because Dad refused to watch it in case he saw the sorts of things I had to see.”

“Let’s move on.” He’d deal with the realization of his father and brother spying on him later.

“Let’s,” Tommy agreed.

“What is this facility used for?” 

“Housing for the subjects. Occasional testing.” To his credit, Tommy didn’t try to hide it.

“When you say subjects…” Jenna asked.

“This facility currently houses 17 survivors of the 1947 UFO crash.”

Michael flinched. “And you’re experimenting on them?”

Tommy didn’t shy away as Michael exploded, objects around the room suddenly lifting from their perches and crashing into walls. “This facility has been in operation since 1978. I don’t know where they were held before that but I do know that this wasn’t a new endeavor. Project Shepherd has been in operation since the crash itself and in that time the military has rounded up any and every alien they can find.”

“Not Michael or-”

“Or the Evans twins,” Tommy agreed. “You’re welcome.”

“Excuse me?” Michael scoffed.

“Like I said, Dad sent me the video files,” Tommy explained. “You’re pretty careless around your homes so it wasn’t hard to find evidence of your otherworldly gifts, Michael. The only reason Dad didn’t round all three of you up and bring you here is because I scrubbed the videos before he could see them.”

Neither Michael nor Alex knew how to respond to that. After a beat, Tommy sighed heavily and ran a hand down his face.

“Okay,” he breathed. “So what’s the plan?”

“This was a fact finding mission,” Alex told him.

“Well not anymore,” Tommy said. “There’s no way you will ever get back inside this facility so whatever you plan on doing, do it today. The facility should be clear within the next 15 to 20 minutes.”

“What about the subjects?” Michael asked.

“What about them?” 

“How do I get them out?”

“Michael-”

Michael glared at Tommy. “How?” His voice was hard.

“You can’t.” Tommy held up a hand when Michael opened his mouth. “If you try to break them out it activates the facility’s self destruct mechanism. It’s in place to prevent any of the aliens from br-” He stopped as he took in the look on Alex’s face and groaned. “Well I suppose that’s one way to do it, actually.”

“Good,” Alex agreed. He slipped his backpack off and pulled out the external hard drive. In a few quick motions he had it plugged in and downloading all of the facility’s files.

“Good?” Michael asked. “What’s good?”

“We’re getting everyone out of here,” Alex told him. “Tommy can let them out and then we’ll blow the self destruct mechanism to cover our tracks.”

“He sent everyone home,” Jenna objected. “That’s going to look suspicious.”

“Yes,” Alex agreed. “But any investigation or disciplinary action would be up to the head of Project Shepherd to decide.”

“And that’s you,” Jenna recalled. Alex nodded.

“Where are they?” Michael demanded. Tommy wavered for a second before he pulled up a map of the prison. Silently, he pointed out Cell Block A and Michael took off.

“If he damages the glass in any way, the alarm goes off,” Tommy told Alex.

Alex nodded and handed his backpack to Jenna. “When the files are done downloading, find a vehicle that can transport 17 people.”

“Alex, they’ve been in captivity for decades,” she warned him. “It won’t be as simple as opening the door.”

“Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t open it.” He didn’t wait for a response before he followed Michael.

“Michael?” He called when he entered the cell block to see his boyfriend standing in front of a glass door. When Michael didn’t respond, he hurried over. The residents of the other cells stared at him as he passed by, their faces a mix of hope and fear and loathing. One man in the cell opposite where Michael stood, gazed at him with unabashed happiness. Alex didn’t have time to wonder at that before he came up next to Michael. “Michael?”

Michael didn’t respond, didn’t even acknowledge Alex. He staggered forward until his hand pressed against the glass.

“Don’t damage the glass,” Alex hastened to say. “It’ll set off the alarms.”

But Michael didn’t do anything. He just stood there as the woman in the cell placed her hand over his, the glass separating them. As Alex watched, the woman’s hand glowed red and then both she and Michael smiled. Hers was a sad smile, like she was trying to say goodbye, but Michael’s was nearly incandescent.

“She’s my mom,” Michael whispered. “Alex, she’s my-”

There was a loud beep followed by a series of clicks as each of the cell doors swung open. Alex had to pull Michael back a step to stop the door from hitting them but as soon as the barrier was gone, Michael was inside, his arms already around the frail woman. She hugged him back, her eyes wide and watery in disbelief.

“You heard me,” a man gasped and Alex turned to see the man from the cell opposite staggering towards him on unsteady feet. “You heard me.”

“What?” 

The man collided with Alex as he clutched at his shoulders. He had a bright smile on his face as he laughed breathlessly. “You  _ heard _ me!”

All around him, aliens were leaving their cells and embracing each other. But Alex’s attention was fixed on the man in front of him. “What do you mean I heard you?”

“It was so hard. I tried so many times until I found Vilandra,” the man rambled. “I worried that her mind was so defenseless but I slipped in anyway,” Alex’s blood turned cold as he realized what the man was saying. “At first, I couldn’t say anything, I could just see through her eyes but I did it!” He laughed again. “You heard me!”

This was the man in Isobel’s head. 


	10. Where do we go from here?

Getting all 17 aliens out of Caulfield was easier said than done. They’d been locked in their cells for years and many of them were weak and frail, Michael’s mother included. 

_ Michael’s mother _ , Alex marveled before shoving the thought away. He needed to focus on getting everyone out of the prison and into the trucks Tommy had found. Michael was functionally useless right now and Tommy was busy covering their tracks and stealing all of the data from their system so it was just Alex and Jenna and the aliens didn’t trust them. Not that Alex blamed them, they were humans and he was a Manes, he probably wouldn’t trust them either. In fact, if it wasn’t for the man, whose name Alex didn’t get, he doubted any of them would have gone anywhere with Alex. 

Apparently, while the man was riding along in Isobel’s head the last few months, he’d been able to sort of see through her eyes and he knew Alex and Jenna could be trusted. He ushered his fellow aliens into the trucks before he collapsed onto one of the seats.

“Hey,” Alex shook him gently. “Hey,”

“Marix,” someone said. 

“What?” Alex looked at the woman who had come up next to him.

“His name is Marix,” she explained. “I’m Zandra.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Zandra,” Alex said politely. “Do you know if he’s okay? I don’t think I’m in a good position to judge if he’s injured in some way or merely exhausted.”

“He needs to rest,” she told him. “He exhausted himself finding Vilandra.”

“Ok,” Alex said simply and carefully arranged the man so that he was only taking up one seat. “Let us know if anything changes, okay? I’m not sure what we’ll be able to do but at the very least we should know.”

“You are with Rath,” she replied.

“I’m sorry?”

“You came with Rath. He trusts you.”

“Who is Rath?”

Zandra smiled and turned around, a finger lifted in the direction of the cell block. “Michael?”

“If that is what you call him. To us, Mara’s son is named Rath.” So Michael’s mother was named Mara. 

“If so, then yes. I am with Rath.”

“Then we will trust you. For now.” Alex didn’t really think any of them were in a position  _ not _ to trust him but he would happily take their cooperation over them struggling against them. 

“Thank you,” he told her and helped her into the truck. 

Working quickly, he and Jenna managed to get 16 aliens loaded into the two trucks. It was a tight fit but all of them were severely underweight and they somehow managed 8 into each vehicle by the time Tommy joined them. He handed over Alex’s hard drive without a word and tossed the second set of keys to Jenna.

“Where are we going?” Tommy glanced between them.

Jenna shrugged and looked to Alex. For his part, Alex’s mind went blank. This was not in the plan for today. At no point in any of their discussion or theorizing did they come up with a contingency for harboring 17 aliens. He couldn’t even think of a place large enough to house all of them. For now, “Max’s. His house is a decent enough size but it’s remote enough that we shouldn’t have too much trouble with nosy neighbors.”

Jenna nodded and got in her assigned truck without a word. “I’ll call him on the way and let him know we’re coming.”

As she drove away, Tommy turned to Alex, “Break the glass. I closed all of the cells again and reactivated the alarm system so breaking the glass will activate the self destruct mechanism. Once it’s active, you have five minutes to get clear. Be as far away as possible, okay? I don’t know the blast radius.”

“We’ll be fine,” Alex assured him. “I’ll see you at Max’s.”

Tommy pulled him into a brief hug, Alex unable to even think about responding before he pulled back. “Be safe, squirt.”

“Don’t call me that!” Alex yelled at Tommy’s back as he got in his truck, laughing.

When the truck turned the corner, Alex went back inside to find Michael and his mother still crouched on the floor, their hands connected in a brilliant red light. 

“Michael,” Alex laid a hand on his shoulder, “it’s time to go.” The second his hand touched Michael, the world went fuzzy and the woman in front of him, Mara he remembered with a jolt, was no longer old but young, younger even than him and Michael. She wasn’t saying anything, neither of them were saying anything, but Alex had the strangest sensation of partaking in a conversation nonetheless. He pulled back with a jolt and stumbled. He started to lose his balance but Michael caught him with his powers.

“She’s my mom,” Michael whispered again, this time with reverence and wonder clear in his voice.

“I know,” Alex assured him. “Now let’s get her into the car so we can get her somewhere safe.”

It took some coaxing but Alex got them both onto their feet and ushered them up the stairs and through the halls.

Mara flinched at the sunlight but didn’t let go of her grip on Michael’s arm. That was okay because Michael’s grip was almost as tight on hers. They carefully got her into the car, Michael pulling away reluctantly after getting her belted in.

“What now?” He asked when he joined Alex in front of the Jeep.

“Can you crack the glass on the cell doors from here?” Alex asked him. “Or do you need to get-”

Alarms started blaring.

“Ok then,” Alex tilted his chin. “Time to go. You riding in the back with her?”

“Do you mind?” Michael looked so eager but he stayed next to Alex a moment longer.

“Sit with your mom, Michael,” Alex urged. Michael grinned brightly and laughed.

“She’s  _ my mom _ ,” he said again.

“Yeah, she is. Let’s take her home.”

\---

Max’s house was crowded. Hell, it was crowded when the eight of them all got together. Adding 18 people to the mix just made it claustrophobic. 

Michael couldn’t bear to be parted from his mom and Isobel was alternately leery of Marix and eager for answers while Max just stood in the middle of his living room, turning in slow circles like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. 

So it was up to the humans in the room to take charge. Jenna and Liz set up a small medical station in the master bathroom and were regularly taking each of Max’s sudden houseguests back for a quick examination with Kyle. The master bedroom and both guest rooms were fully occupied - Marix may have overexerted his powers reaching out to Isobel but the rest of them were just old and weak and the excitement of the day was draining. 

Alex tasked Tommy with working with Noah to get the aliens’ information (names, relationships, abilities) and to start putting together new identities for them. Alex would have to hack the Social Security Administration to get them registered as US citizens later but that could wait. 

While they were all busy, Alex called Maria. After promising her all of the answers that she wanted, he enlisted her to pick up enough clothing and food for their guests. She arrived within an hour, her car filled with bags of clothing and food from the Crashdown.

“How?” Alex asked in amazement when he walked outside to greet her.

Maria shrugged. “I stopped by Goodwill, figured you weren’t picky on fashion or size really.” She nailed him with a look. “You ready to tell me why you needed food and clothes for a bunch of people at Max Evans’ house?”

“I got this, Alex,” Isobel cut him off. He and Maria turned in surprise to Isobel in the doorway. “I think Michael needs you.”

Alex paused only a moment to make sure both women were fine before he went inside. In the living room, Max caught his eye and jerked his head towards the back patio. “Liz took Mara to see Kyle,” he explained and Alex nodded. He glanced around the room to make sure no one needed his help, not that he would have stopped if they did but it was the thought that counted, and slipped out the back door.

“Michael?” He asked quietly when he found the man kicking dirt around the side of the house.

“I- I don’t know,” Michael huffed.

“What don’t you know?”

“I- I met my mom today,” it had been hours but his voice hadn’t lost that touch of wonder, “and found out your dad has been spying on me for years and it turns out my sister isn’t crazy she’s just been semi-possessed by another alien for months and I just- I don’t know how to process any of this.” He broke off with a helpless laugh as he looked at Alex wide eyed. “This morning I thought the three of us were alone in this world and now there are 17 people inside who are just like us and who knows if there are any more out there that we don’t know about or-”

Alex closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around Michael. Michael sank into the embrace, pushing them off balance enough that Alex had to stumble until his back hit the side of the house. Michael started to pull away but Alex just held him tighter. He didn’t say anything, he didn’t know what he  _ could _ say, so he just held him.

A soft cough stole Alex’s attention a while later and he turned to see Kyle standing on their right. He raised an eyebrow in question without moving.

“We’ve got food if you’re hungry and it looked like Isobel’s about to start grilling that Marix guy for answers, so-”

“We’ll be in in a minute.” Kyle nodded and let them be. 

“There are a lot of people inside,” Michael muttered into Alex’s shoulder.

“There are,” Alex agreed.

“When can we go home? I need- I need space. And you. And no one else.” He paused. “Maybe my mom, too?”

They didn’t have a guest room but they could work something out. “Sure. We can do that.” He pressed a kiss into Michael’s curls. “Do you want to go now or-”

“I want to hear what Marix has to say,” Michael cut him off, but he didn’t move. In fact, it was a few minutes before he started to pull away and press their foreheads together. “But then we go.”

“Okay,” Alex agreed. “Let’s go back in, yeah? I’m hungry.”

Michael smiled and straightened up. “Then let’s get you some food.”

\---

Michael wasn’t sure what he wanted to hear. On the one hand, there were more aliens on Earth and that knowledge was making him positively giddy. On the other, one of them had hijacked his sister’s brain for months. He wanted answers but he also didn’t want to permanently damage their relations by beating the shit out of an old man.

Isobel sat straight up between him and Max, looking as if she was unbothered by the strange turn their day had taken, but Michael could feel how tense she was, the nervous energy positively rolling off of her.

“Talk,” she ordered the man, Marix. There were a few people sleeping in Max’s rooms but the majority of those from Caulfield were settled around the living room. Unintentionally, they seemed to have arranged themselves like they were going to war. On one side of the room sat a dozen elderly people and on the other was Michael’s family. 

The woman on Marix’s left sat forward. “I don’t know what you three know, having grown up here without any guidance, so pardon me if this is redundant.” She paused. “On our planet, everyone has a few basic abilities: telekinesis, energy manipulation, and telepathy. Most everyone can control each of these to a basic amount. Some people, however, dedicate their lives to honing one of these above all others. Marix, here, and Mara,” she nodded to Michael’s mother, “are both among those who honed their telepathic skills. The men who kept us locked up found a way to neutralize our abilities but they were not always successful. There were times when we could access them but we never had very long and so we had to choose wisely. Mara was able to discern when the three of you exited your pods. We don’t know how it happened or why it happened when it did since they were supposed to keep in stasis until we were ready for you, but we knew that it did.”

Marix put a hand in front of her to stop her at that point. With a sigh he turned towards Michael and his siblings. “My gift, if you will, is that I am able to fully enter another’s subconscious. Depending on the person, I have varying degrees of success. Once we knew the three of you were awake, I tried to reach out to you, hoping maybe you were in a position to help us. It pleased none of us to ask children for aid but we knew of no others who survived the crash.” He reached out a shaky hand for a glass of water and took a sip. “Mara was able to sense your approximate location and so I reached out as best I could but my first several attempts did not work. I believe I connected with Vilandra,” 

“Isobel,” she corrected immediately.

“Isobel,” he corrected with a nod, “many years ago but it was very brief.” Michael exchanged looks with his siblings. Isobel’s first blackout was the night the drifter died. “After that, I made contact with a few humans. It was- odd, getting inside their minds. I- I can’t hurt someone, what I do,” he said suddenly. “But there was one time where someone got hurt because of me.”

“What do you mean?” Max asked.

“Um, those vehicles we came here in?”

“The trucks?” Alex aked, stepping forward.

“Yes,” Marix nodded. “Um, it was smaller than those but one time I reached into the mind of a woman, I think she was very close to Vil- Isobel because I could feel Isobel nearby but I couldn’t connect with her. The woman- she was driving one of those vehicles and I didn’t know how to do it. I tried to break the connection but I believe the vehicle crashed before I could. I don’t know what happened to the young woman.”

“When was this?” Liz asked, her voice tight.

“I- I don’t know.”

“I was only ever in one car crash,” Isobel said softly. “If he crashed a car that I was in-”

“Oh my god,” Liz whispered, her hand covering her mouth.

“What is it?” Marix asked.

“Her sister was the driver,” Isobel told him. Marix looked at Liz in shock, his mouth falling open. “What about me?” She insisted before Marix could say anything. “You’ve been in my head so many times in the past couple of months. Why?”

“I-” Marix looked from Isobel to Liz and back. “I couldn’t communicate. I knew it was you because our minds feel different to humans but I couldn’t communicate. I was trying to tell you where we were but-” he shook his head. “I’m sorry it took so long but I needed to get a message out.”

“Why Manes?” Michael asked.

A few of them chuckled. “To find you,” Mara answered. Michael tilted his head in question and she smiled. “They thought we were idiots. Or ignorant children, I do not know, but the guards would have conversations in front of us all of the time.” She nodded to where Tommy stood silently in the corner. “That one would argue with his father often. Apparently his brother was in a relationship with one of us. We did not know if it was you or Zan, sorry Max,” she corrected with a smile, “but we knew that the three of you were close to a Manes.”

“We hoped it would be enough to get you to us,” Marix added. “And it was.”

\---

If Alex wasn’t directly behind him, Michael would have just crashed on the couch. The thought of walking all the way to the bedroom was too much for him right now.

“Hey, hey,” Alex said softly when Michael almost fell over trying to kick his boots off. “Come on.” He pulled Michael’s arm over his shoulders and together they made it to the bed. Michael knew Alex wasn’t nearly as exhausted as he was but he still got ready for bed with Michael and slipped under the covers with him.

“‘Lex?” Michael had the thought to ask before sleep took him. “Don’t fall back into the files. I need you here not in Project Shepherd.”

If Alex replied, Michael didn’t hear, already fast asleep.

Hours later, the rays of the setting sun broke through the blinds and hit Michael in the face. He tried to roll over to avoid them but the empty expanse of bed next to him woke him the rest of the way.

“Alex?” He called out.

“Kitchen,” Alex yelled back. Michael was on his feet in an instant. He barely had time to blink the sleep out of his eyes before he was staring at the feast in front of Alex, Alex laughing at him.

“What?” He asked dumbly. “Please tell me you didn’t cook this.”

“Hell no,” a new voice said and Michael turned to see Luke, Alex’s older brother, flipping a pancake at the stove. “We aren’t stupid enough to let Alex cook.”

“We?”

“Mornin’, Michael.” Michael turned to see Tommy waving at him from the couch, a smirk on his face.

Michael looked between the three Manes brothers and shook his head. “Nope.” He turned on his heel and let their laughter follow him back to the bedroom.

He bypassed the bad and went straight for the shower, taking his sweet time under the hot spray. As he washed his hair he thought about the events of the day. This morning felt like so long ago that he couldn’t quite process it had only been a day. Less than a day even.

“Michael?” Alex called softly from outside the shower. “You okay?”

“Just taking a shower, darlin’,” he answered.

“You’ve been in there for over half an hour.”

Wait, what? Michael barely had time for the thought before Alex pulled the door open. “Not even your curls need a 30 minute shower,” he teased lightly. 

“I’ll be out in a second,” he paused and let his eyes rove over Alex’s body, “unless you want to join me.”

“My brothers are here,” Alex reminded him flatly.

“So? It hasn’t stopped us before.”

“Yeah well that was before I knew Tommy has literally watched our sex tapes.” And yeah, Michael really didn’t want to think about that.

“That we didn’t know existed,” he pointed out anyway.

“Doesn’t make it better.” Michael reached for Alex’s shirt but he stepped out of his reach with a shake of his head. “Nuhuh. Get out of the shower first.” The door closed gently on his still outstretched hand. 

Michael finished his shower pretty quickly after that. When he got out and wrapped a towel around his waist he found Alex lying on their bed, obviously waiting for him.

“Hey,” Alex said softly as Michael climbed up next to him. “Talk to me.”

“When did Luke get here?” He asked instead.

“About an hour ago. Tommy called him when he left Caulfield and he drove down.”

“So he’s in on it, too.” It wasn’t a question. Alex sighed and ran his fingers through Michael’s wet hair. 

“They were trying to protect us. Very badly, I think, but they were trying. That’s gotta count for something, right?”

“I don’t like knowing that they’ve known my secret for years and never said a word,” Michael admitted.

“Do you want them to leave?” They were Alex’s family but Michael knew he would throw them out if Michael asked him to. That was enough for Michael to shake his head ‘no’. “Okay. What do you want?”

“I don’t know.” His brain was running a million miles a second, trying to process all of the day’s revelations.

“Okay,” Alex agreed quietly. “What do you need?”

“Same thing I always need.” Michael told him softly. “You.”

“You have me,” Alex promised. “Always.”

  
  
  
  


_ Epilogue _

There was an adjustment period, because of course there was. Their lives had been turned upside down by the revelation of 17 more Antarians (apparently, that’s what they were called, another revelation).

Michael, Alex, and Isobel spent the first few days after Caulfield figuring out how to accommodate their guests. Finally, Isobel just rented out half of the local motel and let them set up there. It gave Max his house back but it also gave the Antarians their own space and a sense of autonomy which they badly craved. Michael had tried to get his mother to come stay with him and Alex but she had decided to stay with the group. Instead, they made due with regular visits that always made Michael smile easier.

The motel was temporary, though, and while Alex was busy creating them all new identities and Michael was trying to get them up to date on Earth culture and settled into a semblance of a life in Roswell, Isobel set about wrangling them a permanent home. Michael had no idea how she did it but eventually she found an apartment building with six condos free at the same time. She and Noah handled the payment and soon enough the Antarians had a home.

It wasn’t what they had come to Earth to find but it was something. Many of them still distrusted humans but it appeared that having the seal of approval from Mara’s son made their group acceptable. Which was convenient since it meant they allowed Kyle to check them over and set up wellness plans to get them all to better health, something they all needed. They also deigned to permit Jenna and Maria to take them shopping and introduce them to different foods. Apparently the fondness for insane amounts of spice wasn’t an Antarian thing so much as it was a Michael, Max, and Isobel thing. That had been fun to learn.

But perhaps the biggest change came a few days after the Caulfield Prison Break, as Noah dubbed it, when Marix demanded to see Rosa. 

Michael had gone with his siblings and Liz to the hospital mostly for moral support, honestly. There wasn’t much he could contribute to the situation but Isobel had begged him to come with her and so he had. While he wasn’t able to do much, it meant that he was present when Marix saw Rosa, saw the consequences of his powers, and decided to fix it.

With Liz’s permission, Marix went back into Rosa’s mind. He was gone for nearly an hour before his eyes opened and he smiled.

Rosa’s mind wasn’t gone, he announced happily. Not completely. 

He would need help, he said, but he could do it.

The four of them stared at him in shock as they struggled to process his words. Liz figured it out first and broke down, tears streaming down her face as she lifted Rosa’s limp hand to her lips. Marix had started to ask permission but he never got the words out before Liz was telling him to do it.

Michael wasn’t sure exactly how it happened since most of the planning happened telepathically between Marix, Max, and Isobel. What he did know is that 10 years, 8 months after crashing her car in an accident that killed two girls and scarred a town, Rosa Ortecho opened her eyes. 

It was a sign that things were changing for the better. Alex was slowly shutting Project Shepherd down, the Antarians were getting settled, and Liz had her sister back. Dare he say it, but life was pretty good right about now.

So good, in fact, that Michael was positively whistling as he clambered up the steps of his front porch and walked in the front door of his home.

The yippy barks that greeted him stopped him in his tracks. “What?”

Alex laughed from his seat on the floor, a tiny Beagle clambering over his lap. “Surprise?” 

Michael fell onto his knees next to Alex, a hand already outstretched for the puppy to inspect before he could even think about it. “You got a dog?”

“Well, not yet,” Alex admitted. “It’s sort of a trial run thing. We get her for two days and then we can decide if we want to adopt her or not. I should have mentioned it, I know, but I wanted it to be a surprise.”

Michael kissed him hard. “Yes.”

Alex laughed. “Yes?”

“Yes, we’re keeping her.” He shifted his knees out from under him and took the puppy into his hands. “So, what are we naming her?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and the beagle's name is Wentz because reasons 
> 
> there you have it! my monster is complete!


End file.
